(Bloomberg) — With Democrats on the verge of passing an almost $2 trillion stimulus bill and Covid-19 vaccinations moving ahead, the U.S. economic outlook is much sunnier than it looked in early January.
The latest Bloomberg monthly survey of economists shows the annualized pace of growth in the first quarter will be 4.8%, twice as fast as respondents expected just two months ago. For the full year, gross domestic product is projected to rise 5.5%, which would be the fastest since 1984 and is up from January’s estimate of 4.1%.
After January’s key run-off elections in Georgia, where Democrats secured two Senate seats to win slim control of the chamber from Republicans, economists were generally penciling in a pandemic relief package worth around $1 trillion. Democrats stuck together to push through a bill almost double that size; no Republican senators voted for the plan on Saturday. The plan next goes back to the House for a final vote.
An additional round of $1,400 stimulus checks for millions of Americans, combined with supplemental jobless benefits and the acceleration in vaccinations, should help sustain growth throughout the year, said Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Amherst Pierpont Securities LLC.
Government stimulus will “give a shot of adrenaline for a short period of time,” Stanley said. He noted that “it will kind of fade out, and the more fundamental aspect of things, which is really just opening up and getting back to something closer to the pre-pandemic norm for activity, should kick in.”
The Bloomberg survey of 67 economists was conducted Feb. 26 to March 3.
While economic growth is primed for a strong 2021, it could also mean another partisan divide over the next item on President Joe Biden’s legislative agenda: a multitrillion-dollar plan focusing on infrastructure.
What Bloomberg Economics Says…
Easing activity restrictions and rising vaccinations will allow consumer spending to regain its long-held status as the key economic engine this year. While another round of stimulus is set to push growth to its pre-pandemic trend by midyear, a stealth buildup of $1.7 trillion in extra savings means even more dry tinder for spending.
— Yelena Shulyatyeva and Andrew Husby, economists
For the full note, click here
Democrats hope the package could get bipartisan support, but Republicans — and possibly some moderate Democrats — are likely to be concerned about how the proposal would be funded, certain add-on provisions, and the size of the overall plan, especially if the economy shows sustained progress in the coming months.
U.S. Vaccines Pass 85 Million Doses
Recent reports have shown broad economic improvement in the U.S. Retail sales rose in January by the most in seven months, and a measure of U.S. manufacturing expanded at the fastest pace in three years in February.
The labor market, which has been slower to recover, showed a higher-than-expected employment gain in February, though jobs remain well below pre-pandemic levels.
Meanwhile, the daily rate of vaccinations has quadrupled and new coronavirus infections have plummeted since early January. Governors in Texas and Mississippi — despite criticism from health experts — announced plans to lift coronavirus-related restrictions entirely, citing a decline in hospitalizations and an increase in inoculations.
Getting the pandemic under control is still key to the economic recovery, “and then the checks, and the money — all this stuff will accelerate it really quickly once you’ve done that,” Heather Boushey, member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers, said in an interview.
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.
