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Quebec will consider unlocking fresh sums to support economic expansion and ensure businesses in downtown cores can survive the pandemic, Economy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon said.
The economy minister was in Montreal to introduce projects to brighten up downtown and lure office workers back.
Quebec will consider unlocking fresh sums to support economic expansion and ensure businesses in downtown cores can survive the pandemic, Economy Minister Pierre Fitzgibbon said.
Finance minister Eric Girard “is going to do an economic update in November, and we’re working now to see what other programs across all ministries we could tap to continue the relaunch of the economy,” Fitzgibbon said Friday in an interview in Montreal on the sidelines of a business event.
“Perhaps there are other sums out there that we can obtain. The government is quite open to this because all in all, public finances are in a good situation.”
Quebec on Friday reported a $359-million deficit for the three-month period ended June 30. That’s a 92-per-cent improvement over the $4.74-billion shortfall reported in the same quarter a year ago — right at the start of the pandemic.
Real gross domestic product in Quebec expanded at an annualized rate of 3.4 per cent in the second quarter, topping its pre-pandemic level with the help of strong domestic demand, the provincial statistics institute said Thursday. Investment in machinery and equipment, household consumption and residential construction all posted gains.
By contrast, GDP for Canada as a whole contracted 1.1 per cent on an annualized basis.
Despite the broad economic rebound, some sectors — such as commercial real estate — are struggling.
Office vacancies in downtown Montreal rose to 13.2 per cent in the third quarter, real-estate firm CBRE said Thursday. That’s the highest level since the fourth quarter of 2004.
Fitzgibbon was in town Friday at a Chamber of Commerce of Metropolitan Montreal event to introduce eight creative projects selected to brighten up downtown Montreal and lure office workers back.
Provincial financing for the initiative totals $3.1 million, part of a $23.5-million aid package for Montreal’s central business district that was announced in March. All told, Quebec set aside $75 million to help rekindle economic activity in downtown cores across Quebec.
“The Montreal economy accounts for 57 per cent of Quebec’s GDP, and we cannot let it down,” Fitzgibbon said. “If more money is required, we will do it. At this time, I don’t think we’ll have an issue with money. There are other programs for innovation or creativity that we can put to work. We can take money elsewhere to achieve the same thing.”
COVID-19 has deprived downtown Montreal of much of its office worker population in the past 18 months. Plans to bring back employees this autumn have recently been put on hold as a fourth wave sweeps across Quebec.
In fact, teleworking’s enduring popularity probably means downtown cores will never be as busy as they were before the pandemic, according to Fitzgibbon.
“We have to admit that many companies are going to favour teleworking, even after health restrictions have been lifted, for reasons such as family-work balance,” the minister said. “That will be a reality.”
And with several downtown-based employers having opened satellite offices in suburbs such as Brossard or Laval during the pandemic, “perhaps we will never have the same density that we had before,” he said.
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PM: Millennials and Gen Z drive Canadian economy CTV News
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Delivering remarks to his Liberal cabinet during a caucus meeting on Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau emphasized that the newly-announced federal government is intended to help create a fair economy for “everyone” in Canada, particularly those from Millennials and Gen Z.
An influential global body has forecast Russia’s economy will grow faster than all of the world’s advanced economies, including the US, this year.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects Russia to grow 3.2% this year, significantly more than the UK, France and Germany.
Oil exports have “held steady” and government spending has “remained high” contributing to growth, the IMF said.
Overall, it said the world economy had been “remarkably resilient”
“Despite many gloomy predictions, the world avoided a recession, the banking system proved largely resilient, and major emerging market economies did not suffer sudden stops,” the IMF said.
The IMF is an international organisation with 190 member countries. They are used by businesses to help plan where to invest, and by central banks, such as the Bank of England to guide its decisions on interest rates.
The group says that the forecasts it makes for growth the following year in most advanced economies, more often than not, have been within about 1.5 percentage points of what actually happens.
Despite the Kremlin being sanctioned over its invasion of Ukraine, the IMF upgraded its January predictions for the Russian economy this year, and said while growth would be lower in 2025, it would be still be higher than previously expected at 1.8%.
Investments from corporate and state owned enterprises and “robustness in private consumption” within Russia had promoted growth alongside strong exports of oil, according to Petya Koeva Brooks, deputy director at the IMF.
Russia is one of the world’s biggest oil exporters and in February, the BBC revealed millions of barrels of fuel made from Russian oil were still being imported to the UK despite sanctions.
Away from Russia, the IMF downgraded its forecasts across Europe and for the UK this year, predicting 0.5% growth this year, making the UK the second weakest performer across the G7 group of advanced economies, behind Germany.
The G7 also includes France, Italy, Japan, Canada and the US.
Growth is set to improve to 1.5% in 2025, putting the UK among the top three best performers in the G7, according to the IMF.
However, the IMF said that interest rates in the UK will remain higher than other advanced nations, close to 4% until 2029.
The group expects the UK to have the highest inflation of any G7 economy in 2023 and 2024.
Chancellor Jeremy Hunt said the IMF’s figures showed that the UK economy was turning a corner.
“Inflation in 2024 is predicted to be 1.2% lower than before, and over the next six years we are projected to grow faster than large European economies such as Germany or France – both of which have had significantly larger downgrades to short-term growth than the UK,” he said.
Economists at the IMF warned that if the Israel-Hamas conflict escalates further in the Middle East it could lead to rising food and energy prices around the world.
Continued attacks on ships in the Red Sea and the ongoing war in Ukraine could also affect the so far “remarkably resilient” global economy, it said.
A potential spike in food, energy and transport costs would see lower-income countries hardest hit, it added.
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