By Kim Mackrael 

TORONTO -- Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz said he thinks the central bank has monetary conditions about right given the current uncertainty over how global headwinds will affect the domestic economy.

Mr. Poloz told an audience in Toronto on Thursday that global trade conflicts have hurt Canada's exports and investment. While the economy is in a good place overall, he said, policy makers are watching to see whether trade-related weakness spills over into other parts of the economy, including the housing and service sectors.

"We think we've got monetary conditions about right given the situation, " Mr. Poloz said during an on-stage interview.

He said the Bank of Canada's key interest rate is close to that of the Federal Reserve's after the U.S. central bank lowered rates in recent months, and the two economies are faring similarly at this stage. The Bank of Canada has kept its key rate on hold at 1.75% over the past year.

At its most recent interest-rate decision on Oct. 30, Canada's central bank said it had considered a so-called insurance cut but ultimately decided to stand pat, saying the overall economy is resilient and a rate cut would come with additional financial stability risks in the future.

Mr. Poloz said the central bank wants to boost the trend line of economic growth, but policy makers will need to keep watching concerns over financial stability. The central bank said recently that its top financial stability risks are Canadians' high household debt levels and imbalances in some housing markets.

Mr. Poloz said he continues to see monetary policy in Canada as accommodative. "We're still quite stimulative where we are today," he said.

Write to Kim Mackrael at kim.mackrael@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

November 21, 2019 11:04 ET (16:04 GMT)