The Provincial Recovery is On Track

Another of the major private sector economics units has added its voice to the suggestion that 2021 will see Saskatchewan’s economy regain all its losses from last year.

BMO Bank of Montreal’s Capital Markets unit has just updated its quarterly outlook, calling for our economy to grow 4.5% this year – exactly matching what we lost last year in the wake of the COVID pandemic declaration.

BMO says when compared to the national performance in 2020 and 2021, Saskatchewan will net out at a half point better than the country as a whole but we should expect to see our momentum beginning to decline as we move through this year as the bank is projecting a 3-percent expansion in 2022 which is the lowest outside Atlantic Canada.

They see our unemployment rate as the second-lowest in the country this year while 2021 new home starts will sustain the level we saw last year and accelerate slightly next year. And our provincial government will end its fiscal year in March with the lowest debt-to-GDP level among the provinces.