development bank of canada will buy term asset - backed securities backed by loans and leases on vehicles and equipment. all of these measures are helping to meet a rising demand from business and individuals who have been finding it difficult in this environment to raise adequate funds. we have all heard reports about ongoing tightening in both the availability and the pricing of credit. nonetheless, our latest figures show continued strong growth in total household credit – 9. 6 per cent in january compared with the same period one year earlier – and limited deceleration in growth of total business credit. the latter stood at 4. 2 per cent in january compared with the same period one year earlier as accelerating growth in bank lending has helped to offset a contraction in market financing. we will continue to closely monitor credit growth and credit conditions in canada. in conclusion, as we are all very well aware, the canadian economy is feeling the effects of the global turmoil and recession. authorities have put a lot of fiscal and monetary stimulus in place – in canada and globally – to support the recovery. however, as i noted at the outset, stabilization of the global financial system remains a precondition for the global and canadian economic recoveries. investor and public confidence has been badly shaken, but will recover with the timely implementation of ambitious plans in some major countries to address toxic assets and to recapitalize financial institutions. however, if these national and multilateral measures are not timely, bold, and well - executed, canada ’ s economic recovery will be both attenuated and delayed. i would now be pleased to answer your questions.

continue to simmer, especially between iran, the us and its middle east allies. while the g20 observed that global growth appears to be stabilising more recently and may pick up into 2020, downside risks overall are still perceived to be tilted to the downside. what does this backdrop imply for emerging markets? against such a global backdrop, emerging countries are facing conflicting pressures. and the experience of the past 15 months shows that it is not just the monetary policy page 3 of 10 path in the major economies, but also the divergences ( or not ) between these policies, that can have major consequences for emerging markets. at first, and for a large part of 2018, an ever - widening growth gap between the us economy and its major partners, coupled with budding trade tensions, boosted the us dollar. the fed continued to normalise policy rate levels while other major central banks stayed put. the resulting widening in the interest rate divergence in favour of the us contributed to dollar appreciation. the mix of rising us interest rates, a stronger dollar and overweight investor positions ( at the time ) in the so - called ‘ risky assets ’ weighed on the currencies and bonds of those emerging markets that exhibited frail external and fiscal balances. specifically, financial stress in argentina and turkey, amid the need to roll over a large amount of short - term debts and a de - anchoring of inflation expectations, precipitated a sell - off in emerging market assets, although with important differentiation across countries. the situation changed in the fourth quarter of 2018, when indications of slowing economic activity in the us led financial markets to anticipate lesser tightening by the fed, resulting in some downward pressure on the dollar and a decline in us treasury yields. the prevailing mix allowed for some recovery in emerging market assets and a resumption of capital flows to these countries. additional factors also helped, including the decline in oil prices, the tightening of monetary policy in a large number of emerging countries that had restored wider rate differentials with the advanced economies, and, in several countries, a lesser - than - feared pickup in inflation in response to currency depreciation. during the early stages of this year, we have seen a significant change in monetary policy forward guidance given by major central banks, the fed and ecb in particular, which delivered some easing of financial conditions, particularly in advanced economies, but in emerging markets as well, although to a lesser degree. page 4 of 10 yet the