the time of our 6 september interest rate announcement, the risks around the basecase projection are judged to be a little greater than at the time of the july update. the main upside risk relates to the momentum in household spending and housing prices, while the main downside risk is that the u. s. economy could slow more sharply than expected, leading to lower canadian exports. the bank judges that the risks to its inflation projection are roughly balanced. on 17 october, we left our key policy rate unchanged at 4. 25 per cent. the current level is judged, at this time, to be consistent with achieving the inflation target over the medium term. the bank will continue to pay close attention to the evolution of risks, as well as to economic and financial developments in the canadian and global economies.

finance corporation at usd5. 2 trillion in developing countries alone. with the devastation wrought by covid - 19 on smes, we expect that this gap has widened. as we bring back our smes to life, digital practices will be core. we have already seen the increasing use of digital lending to smes based on business transaction histories, alternative data from mobile phones and other government public records. in kenya, a consortium of five banks launched a mobile - centric msme financing product dubbed stawi in november 2019. stawi provides “ anytime anywhere ” financing to msmes and will be a powerful weapon in our arsenal as we reimagine the post - covid posture of our msmes. second, building the foundations for sustainable digital ecosystems, which requires collaboration between the public and private sectors in developing three critical components : core connectivity infrastructure required to extend digital services across countries, and necessitating secure digital identity for citizens to connect to the digital infrastructure. creating an enabling market and regulatory framework that enables fintechs to scale up their innovations. enlightening citizens on their rights and protections in the digital realm. third, strengthening inclusive international governance. regulations and standards governing digital financing need to be informed by sdg commitments and goals, with a particular need to ensure that the sdgs inform the governance of a new generation of global digital financing platforms. the pandemic has accelerated the growth of global digital platforms particularly in e - commerce, payments and entertainment. this unprecedented growth has increased the market concentration enjoyed by the platforms. a critical concern is that this growth has been more technology - centric as opposed to being people - centric. the concerns particularly on data privacy and security are pertinent to emerging countries that may not be on the table in discussions on these platforms yet they are potentially their largest users. accordingly, the taskforce has mooted another pathfinder initiative, the international dialogue on global digital finance, spearheaded by kenya and switzerland. it seeks to facilitate a balanced and more inclusive dialogue, particularly involving developing nations, on sdg - aligned governance of global digital finance platforms. it will convene representatives from central banks, finance, trade and other relevant ministries, cross - sector regulatory bodies, non - state actors from developing countries, and representatives from key institutions such as the financial stability board, bank for international settlements, international monetary fund and the world bank. these three recommendations represent opportunities for establishing a global financial system that would support shared prosperity by focusing on people