The Conference Board of Canada expects Manitoba’s economic output to decline sharply this year, followed by a strong rebound in 2021 as the province recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic.
In an economic update issued Wednesday, the board predicts Manitoba’s real gross domestic product will drop by 4.5 per cent in 2020, mainly because of the pandemic.
Manitoba’s food, hospitality, recreation and arts sectors have all been hammered by the pandemic due to the closure of non-essential businesses and “the practice of physical distancing, which limits the time and money people spend outside their homes,” says the report from the think-tank.
Travel bans, coupled with rail blockades before the pandemic, also hurt Manitoba transportation’s industry, manufacturers of transportation equipment and warehouses, the report says.
Only Saskatchewan and Alberta will see their economies contract further than Manitoba this year, mainly because of the drop in oil prices, the report says. This will have an indirect effect on Manitoba, where the economy is heavily dependent on the other Prairie provinces.
The report also says the ongoing Chinese ban on canola imports will continue to hurt Manitoba.
The decline in Manitoba may be short-lived, however, as the board expects the provincial economy to grow by six per cent in 2021. Only Saskatchewan, Alberta and B.C. are expected to rebound at a higher rate.
The precise effect of the decline on Manitoba government finances is uncertain. The province has put off a provincial sales tax cut and intends to cut the public-sector workforce by an average of 2.2 per cent for the remainder of the summer, but has also spent hundreds of millions on pandemic response programs.
The Conference Board of Canada projection of a drop of 4.5 per cent in real GDP is in line with a range of economic projections made by financial institutions earlier in May.
On average, bank economists projected Manitoba’s economy to contract by 5.2 per cent, said Andrea Slobodian, a spokesperson for Finance Minister Scott Fielding.
TORONTO – Strength in the base metal and technology sectors helped Canada’s main stock index gain almost 100 points on Friday, while U.S. stock markets also climbed higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index closed up 93.51 points at 23,568.65.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 297.01 points at 41,393.78. The S&P 500 index was up 30.26 points at 5,626.02, while the Nasdaq composite was up 114.30 points at 17,683.98.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.61 cents US compared with 73.58 cents US on Thursday.
The October crude oil contract was down 32 cents at US$68.65 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was down five cents at US$2.31 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$30.10 at US$2,610.70 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents US$4.24 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says wholesale sales, excluding petroleum, petroleum products, and other hydrocarbons and excluding oilseed and grain, rose 0.4 per cent to $82.7 billion in July.
The increase came as sales in the miscellaneous subsector gained three per cent to reach $10.5 billion in July, helped by strength in the agriculture supplies industry group, which rose 9.2 per cent.
The food, beverage and tobacco subsector added 1.7 per cent to total $15 billion in July.
The personal and household goods subsector fell 2.5 per cent to $12.1 billion.
In volume terms, overall wholesale sales rose 0.5 per cent in July.
Statistics Canada started including oilseed and grain as well as the petroleum and petroleum products subsector as part of wholesale trade last year, but is excluding the data from monthly analysis until there is enough historical data.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 150 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in the base metal and energy sectors, while U.S. stock markets were mixed.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 172.18 points at 23,383.35.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 34.99 points at 40,826.72. The S&P 500 index was up 10.56 points at 5,564.69, while the Nasdaq composite was up 74.84 points at 17,470.37.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.55 cents US compared with 73.59 cents US on Wednesday.
The October crude oil contract was up $2.00 at US$69.31 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was up five cents at US$2.32 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$40.00 at US$2,582.40 an ounce and the December copper contract was up six cents at US$4.20 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
