Saskatchewan’s economic growth will not quite make the two-percent mark, according to the update from CIBC Capital Markets.
They have pegged the province’s expansion at 1.9-percent this year with an asterisk….rising oil prices resulting from the Middle East War.
The bank’s economics unit says the entire country is feeling the pinch of higher oil prices and its forecast for the various provinces is equally anemic. Most of the other banks have pegged us at slightly more than two-percent.
However, CIBC also adds a caveat. They say while rising oil prices will further squeeze consumers in most parts of Canada, it will be offset in the oil producing provinces of Saskatchewan, Alberta and Newfoundland.
In fact, it says Alberta’s government could eliminate its deficit if the higher prices last long enough. For Saskatchewan there will be a secondary wind in its sails through the year… rising potash prices.
At 1.9-percent this year, Saskatchewan ranks third on their list behind Alberta and Newfoundland. Next year, they forecast further growth of 1.8-percent which will put us back into the middle of the pack.
