When the economists at TD Canada Trust updated their quarterly outlook for the various provincial economies in the country, their commentary on Saskatchewan was remarkably upbeat.
Saskatchewan, it says, has been turning in a better performance than its April forecast had portrayed.
The province has done a good job of holding down its COVID case counts and, as a result, has seen a stronger than average rebound in things like retail sales activity, which had the lowest drop in the country in April, sparked by an out-performance measure for the automotive sector.
On the labor market, we enjoyed an edge compared to other provinces with a smaller drop in employment and hours worked and producing the second-lowest unemployment rate.
Two industry groups performing well in the face of COVID are agriculture and potash which will give us a leg up on exports which should translate into capital spending, especially since oil prices are now rebounding.
Finally, the $2 billion increase to the government’s capital spending budget should boost construction activity.
