Despite the Conference Board of Canada’s earlier predictions of B.C. and Ontario leading national economic growth up to the end of 2017, the latest TD weekly report pointed at “three strikes” that have made the country’s economic prospects dimmer.
TD economist Leila Preston wrote in her study released on Friday (July 8) that weaker sales and trade along with persistent unemployment might prove to be stumbling blocks for the Canadian economy in the near future, reported Jesse Ferreras for The Huffington Post Canada.
Strike One: The latest Business Outlook Survey released by the Bank of Canada, which uncovered that sales growth would not strengthen to any significant degree over the next 12 month, especially in regions that have been most affected by weak oil prices. A potential resurgence of demand from the United States would be “insufficient to outweigh the continued drag from commodity-related activity combined with modest domestic demand,” the Bank added.
Strike Two: Trade becoming more sluggish in May. However, Preston expressed hope that strong export performance in Q1 2016 would propel the trade segment to a better condition in the last few months of this year.
Strike Three: “Essentially unchanged” unemployment situation, as evident in the results of the national Labour Force Survey for June. Total number of jobs in the labour market fell by 700, with the unemployment rate standing at 6.8 per cent. Only B.C. saw improved employment last month, according to the survey.
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