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OTTAWA — Once the coronavirus outbreak is over it could take the Canadian economy a couple of years to make up the lost ground caused by business and industry shutdowns, Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz said on Thursday.

Poloz said the economy could lose between 4 per cent and 6 per cent of gross domestic product in 2020.

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“I’m quite confident we will make up that lost ground but don’t hold me to a timeline. It’s going to take something that we measure in, say, a couple of years,” he told the House of Common finance committee.

The central bank slashed its overnight interest rate three times in March by a total of 150 basis points to just 0.25 per cent, equaling a record low, as the effect of coronavirus-related shutdowns and cratering crude prices started to bite.