BENGALURU (REUTERS) – The global economy is already in a recession as the hit to economic activity from the coronavirus pandemic has become more widespread, according to economists polled by Reuters amid a raft of central bank stimulus actions this week.
The spread of the disease caused by the virus, Covid-19, has sent financial markets into a tailspin despite some of the biggest emergency stimulus measures since the global financial crisis announced by dozens of central banks across Europe, the Americas, Asia and Australia.
The panic was clear in stocks, bonds, gold and commodity prices, underlining expectations of severe economic damage from the outbreak.
More than three-quarters of economists based in the Americas and Europe polled this week, 31 of 41, said the current global economic expansion had already ended, in response to a question about whether the global economy was already in recession.
“Last week we concluded that the Covid-19 shock would produce a global recession as nearly all of the world contracts over the three months between February and April,” noted Bruce Kasman, head of global economic research at JP Morgan.
“There is no longer doubt that the longest global expansion on record will end this quarter. The key outlook issue now is gauging the depth and the duration of the 2020 recession.”
Economists have repeatedly cut their growth outlook over the past month and have increased their forecast probabilities for recession in most major economies.
The worst-case views on growth taken just weeks ago in some cases have already into the central scenario for private sector economists in Reuters polls.
“The evolving news on Covid-19 has triggered ‘forecast leap frogging,’ with economists and strategists repeatedly lowering their forecasts. Among the big three economies, the US and the euro area will see negative growth, while Chinese growth is expected to come in at a paltry 1.5 per cent,” said Ethan Harris, head of global economics at BofA.
“Our first piece on the virus shock was titled ‘bad or worse’; now we amend that to ‘really bad or much worse.’ We now expect Covid-19 to cause a global recession in 2020, of similar magnitude to the recessions of 1982 and 2009.”
The global economy was forecast to expand 1.6 per cent this year, about half the 3.1 per cent predicted in the January poll, and the weakest since the global financial crisis of 2007-09. Forecasts for 2020 global GDP ranged from -2.0 per cent to +2.7 per cent.
“As cases of coronavirus spiral upward, disruptions to the global economy are increasing. We have cut our global GDP growth forecast to 1.25 per cent for the year – less severe than the deep recessions of 1981-82 and 2008-09, but worse than the mild recessions of 1991 and 2001,” noted Goldman Sachs’ economics research team.
“Consistent with this, our economists now expect recessions in Europe, Japan, Canada and possibly the United States.”
The US economy was almost certain to enter a recession this year, if it is not in one already, according to a poll published on Thursday and taken after the Federal Reserve’s emergency move on Sunday.
“The US economy is going to have a shock from this coronavirus and I think that there’s still a lot of uncertainty around the size and the depth and the prolonged period of the shock,” said Tiffany Wilding, North American economist at Pacific Investment Management Co (Pimco).
“We’re still getting our heads wrapped around that. We think it’s quite likely that the US has a small technical recession this year.”
As for the world’s second largest economy, China, where the virus outbreak originated, a Reuters poll published on March 6 showed the outlook was once again cut significantly for this quarter, next quarter, and for 2020.
Since then, economists have been slashing their forecasts even more.
The economic damage from the outbreak was predicted to reverberate through other major economies in Asia too, with most forecast to slow significantly, halt or shrink outright in the current quarter according to a Feb. 26 Reuters poll.
Japan’s economy, which already contracted sharply toward the end of 2019, was expected to grow only 0.1 per cent in the new fiscal year that begins in April, a March 6 Reuters survey found, revised down from 0.5 per cent projected in February.
Following the rapid spread of virus infections from China to other countries, including Europe, the risk of a euro zone recession doubled in a poll taken earlier this month.
It was not very different for the UK, where the Bank of England cut rates to near-zero on Thursday and re-started its asset purchases.
The British economy was expected to expand 0.1 per cent this quarter and then contract 0.3 per cent next quarter, a sharp revision from the 0.3 per cent expansion they had expected before for both the quarters in the previous poll.
In a worst case scenario, the economy was forecast to contract 1.0 per cent next quarter and by 0.7 per cent in 2020. Forecasts were as low as -5.0 per cent and -3.0 per cent, respectively, with no economist expecting growth in either period in the worst case.
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.
VICTORIA – British Columbia is forecasting a record budget deficit and a rising debt of almost $129 billion less than two weeks before the start of a provincial election campaign where economic stability and future progress are expected to be major issues.
Finance Minister Katrine Conroy, who has announced her retirement and will not seek re-election in the Oct. 19 vote, said Tuesday her final budget update as minister predicts a deficit of $8.9 billion, up $1.1 billion from a forecast she made earlier this year.
Conroy said she acknowledges “challenges” facing B.C., including three consecutive deficit budgets, but expected improved economic growth where the province will start to “turn a corner.”
The $8.9 billion deficit forecast for 2024-2025 is followed by annual deficit projections of $6.7 billion and $6.1 billion in 2026-2027, Conroy said at a news conference outlining the government’s first quarterly financial update.
Conroy said lower corporate income tax and natural resource revenues and the increased cost of fighting wildfires have had some of the largest impacts on the budget.
“I want to acknowledge the economic uncertainties,” she said. “While global inflation is showing signs of easing and we’ve seen cuts to the Bank of Canada interest rates, we know that the challenges are not over.”
Conroy said wildfire response costs are expected to total $886 million this year, more than $650 million higher than originally forecast.
Corporate income tax revenue is forecast to be $638 million lower as a result of federal government updates and natural resource revenues are down $299 million due to lower prices for natural gas, lumber and electricity, she said.
Debt-servicing costs are also forecast to be $344 million higher due to the larger debt balance, the current interest rate and accelerated borrowing to ensure services and capital projects are maintained through the province’s election period, said Conroy.
B.C.’s economic growth is expected to strengthen over the next three years, but the timing of a return to a balanced budget will fall to another minister, said Conroy, who was addressing what likely would be her last news conference as Minister of Finance.
The election is expected to be called on Sept. 21, with the vote set for Oct. 19.
“While we are a strong province, people are facing challenges,” she said. “We have never shied away from taking those challenges head on, because we want to keep British Columbians secure and help them build good lives now and for the long term. With the investments we’re making and the actions we’re taking to support people and build a stronger economy, we’ve started to turn a corner.”
Premier David Eby said before the fiscal forecast was released Tuesday that the New Democrat government remains committed to providing services and supports for people in British Columbia and cuts are not on his agenda.
Eby said people have been hurt by high interest costs and the province is facing budget pressures connected to low resource prices, high wildfire costs and struggling global economies.
The premier said that now is not the time to reduce supports and services for people.
Last month’s year-end report for the 2023-2024 budget saw the province post a budget deficit of $5.035 billion, down from the previous forecast of $5.9 billion.
Eby said he expects government financial priorities to become a major issue during the upcoming election, with the NDP pledging to continue to fund services and the B.C. Conservatives looking to make cuts.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
Note to readers: This is a corrected story. A previous version said the debt would be going up to more than $129 billion. In fact, it will be almost $129 billion.
NANAIMO, B.C. – Former Bank of Canada governor Mark Carney says he’ll be advising the Liberal party to flip some the challenges posed by an increasingly divided and dangerous world into an economic opportunity for Canada.
But he won’t say what his specific advice will be on economic issues that are politically divisive in Canada, like the carbon tax.
He presented his vision for the Liberals’ economic policy at the party’s caucus retreat in Nanaimo, B.C. today, after he agreed to help the party prepare for the next election as chair of a Liberal task force on economic growth.
Carney has been touted as a possible leadership contender to replace Justin Trudeau, who has said he has tried to coax Carney into politics for years.
Carney says if the prime minister asks him to do something he will do it to the best of his ability, but won’t elaborate on whether the new adviser role could lead to him adding his name to a ballot in the next election.
Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says she has been taking advice from Carney for years, and that his new position won’t infringe on her role.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 10, 2024.
