Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President Patrick Harker speaks in Newark, Del., on April 27, 2013, when he was serving as president of the University of Delaware.
The Associated Press
U.S. economic growth is moderating as the coronavirus spreads and fiscal help fades, and some workers whose jobs are permanently eliminated will face an especially tough recovery, Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank President Patrick Harker said on Wednesday.
Harker said he is expecting “moderate growth for the rest of this year and the first quarter of 2021” and for the economy to stay below pre-pandemic levels.
“Indeed, we are currently seeing signs of plateauing in the economy,” Harker said during remarks prepared for a virtual discussion. “That’s attributable both to COVID-19′s continued circulation and to the evaporation of fiscal support.”
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The policymaker forecasts that growth will pick up in the second half of next year if there is a vaccine widely available by next spring or summer. Harker said more fiscal support is needed to get the economy to that point and to support low-income households.
He also repeated his view that many of the jobs lost during the pandemic will not return as companies use technology to reduce staff. He gave the examples of toll workers who were laid off and jobs at meat packing plants that are being automated.
Speaking about the actions the Fed took to support the economy during the pandemic, Harker said he thought the central bank’s emergency lending programs should be extended beyond year end.
The facilities, which support lending to small and medium sized businesses, state and local governments and backstop the corporate bond market, are set to end by Dec. 31 after Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin asked the Fed to return unused funds.
“In my opinion, those facilities should stay open past the end of this year,” Harker said. “Until we get through this pandemic, the economy needs to be supported.”
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OTTAWA – The parliamentary budget officer says the federal government likely failed to keep its deficit below its promised $40 billion cap in the last fiscal year.
However the PBO also projects in its latest economic and fiscal outlook today that weak economic growth this year will begin to rebound in 2025.
The budget watchdog estimates in its report that the federal government posted a $46.8 billion deficit for the 2023-24 fiscal year.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland pledged a year ago to keep the deficit capped at $40 billion and in her spring budget said the deficit for 2023-24 stayed in line with that promise.
The final tally of the last year’s deficit will be confirmed when the government publishes its annual public accounts report this fall.
The PBO says economic growth will remain tepid this year but will rebound in 2025 as the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts stimulate spending and business investment.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says the level of food insecurity increased in 2022 as inflation hit peak levels.
In a report using data from the Canadian community health survey, the agency says 15.6 per cent of households experienced some level of food insecurity in 2022 after being relatively stable from 2017 to 2021.
The reading was up from 9.6 per cent in 2017 and 11.6 per cent in 2018.
Statistics Canada says the prevalence of household food insecurity was slightly lower and stable during the pandemic years as it fell to 8.5 per cent in the fall of 2020 and 9.1 per cent in 2021.
In addition to an increase in the prevalence of food insecurity in 2022, the agency says there was an increase in the severity as more households reported moderate or severe food insecurity.
It also noted an increase in the number of Canadians living in moderately or severely food insecure households was also seen in the Canadian income survey data collected in the first half of 2023.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct 16, 2024.
OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says manufacturing sales in August fell to their lowest level since January 2022 as sales in the primary metal and petroleum and coal product subsectors fell.
The agency says manufacturing sales fell 1.3 per cent to $69.4 billion in August, after rising 1.1 per cent in July.
The drop came as sales in the primary metal subsector dropped 6.4 per cent to $5.3 billion in August, on lower prices and lower volumes.
Sales in the petroleum and coal product subsector fell 3.7 per cent to $7.8 billion in August on lower prices.
Meanwhile, sales of aerospace products and parts rose 7.3 per cent to $2.7 billion in August and wood product sales increased 3.8 per cent to $3.1 billion.
Overall manufacturing sales in constant dollars fell 0.8 per cent in August.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.
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