News

Q3 2021 Economic Snapshot

After a strong Q3, SREDA has changed Saskatoon’s economic rating from a B- to a B. Saskatoon’s growth forecast from the Conference Board of Canada has also been revised from 5.4% to 6.5% for 2021. We’ve summarized the lay of the economic land for our Q3 snapshot:

  1. Business confidence in Canada rose to record levels in Q3 despite supply chain constraints, a labour shortage and expectations of rising inflation.
  2. Labour market recovery is asymmetrical, with recovery driven by select industries that have recovered to pre-pandemic levels. Labour shortages and supply chain issues, if not addressed, could weaken the pace of the economy’s recovery.
  3. Commodities such as potash and oil are seeing rising prices, sales and production. Agriculture, however, is expected to see a decline in growth for 2022 because of drought-driven decreases in crop production this year.
  4. Consumers expect to spend one-third of the savings they accumulated during the pandemic by the end of 2022.
  5. Saskatchewan lags behind its peers in terms of vaccination rates. The province has the second highest number of COVID cases per 100,000 people and the third lowest vaccination rate, at 64.3%, of all Canadian provinces.

Economic Forecast: Saskatoon Region

Saskatoon’s growth forecast has risen from 5.4% to 6.5% for 2021, in contrast with the global trend of forecasts being revised downward. Growth of 3.8% is expected in 2022.

Table 1: Economic Growth Forecast for Saskatoon CMA

Q1 2021Q2 2021Q3 2021Q4 2021Q1 2022Q2 2022Q3 2022Q4 2022
Quarterly GDP (%)2.31.21.81.61.21.21.00.9

Source: Conference Board of Canada

Economic Forecast: Saskatchewan

According to five major Canadian financial institutions and Canada’s leading economic think tank, the province’s economic growth forecast for 2021 has been revised downward to 4.6% – from 5.7%. This is expected to be followed by growth of 4.1% in 2022. (Table 2).

Table 2: Consensus Economic Growth Forecast for Saskatchewan (%)

Financial Institutions20192020f2021f2022f
RBC-0.7-5.23.85.9
TD-0.8-5.24.03.4
BMO-0.7-5.24.03.2
Scotiabank-0.7-5.24.43.6
National Bank of Canada-0.7-5.24.83.9
Conference Board of Canada-0.9-5.26.84.6
Consensus Economic Growth-0.7-5.24.64.1

Source: RBC, TD, BMO, Scotiabank, NBC and CBoC

Looking Ahead

Spending is forecast to increase for consumers and businesses alike, with businesses increasing their investment to address rising demand and labour shortages. Supply chain issues are expected to last until the second half of 2022 and interest rate hikes are expected – potentially early next year. Moving forward, agriculture will be important to watch in 2022, as severe drought conditions heavily impacted crops this year.

Sources

https://www.scotiabank.com/content/dam/scotiabank/sub-brands/scotiabank-economics/english/documents/provincial-pulse/provincial_outlook_2021-09-14.pdf

https://royal-bank-of-canada-2124.docs.contently.com/v/recovery-bumpy-but-still-advancing-in-all-provinces-pdf

https://economics.td.com/provincial-economic-forecast

https://www.nbc.ca/content/dam/bnc/en/rates-and-analysis/economic-analysis/monthly-economic-monitor.pdf

https://health-infobase.canada.ca/covid-19/vaccination-coverage/

https://covid19tracker.ca/

https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/ca/Documents/finance/ca-economic-outlook-october-2021-report-en-new.pdf?icid=eo-report-october-2021-aoda-en

https://economics.bmo.com/en/publications/detail/6025f8d4-1d7d-4bd5-95a5-fb11fe6eb053/

https://economics.bmo.com/en/publications/detail/6b97bb04-85f5-40d0-a268-0811de45b9f8/

https://www.icrcommercial.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/ICR-INDUSTRIAL-SURVEY-SASKATOON-2Q2021.pdf

https://www.icrcommercial.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/ICR-RETAIL-SURVEY-SASKATOON-2Q2021.pdf

https://www.icrcommercial.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/ICR-OFFICE-SURVEY-SASKATOON-2Q2021.pdf

https://www.bankofcanada.ca/2021/10/canadian-survey-of-consumer-expectations-third-quarter-of-2021/

https://www.ctvnews.ca/business/businesses-see-higher-inflation-wages-and-job-changes-bank-of-canada-reports-1.5627389

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/canadian-food-inflation-nearly-double-what-official-data-suggests-study-1.1659240

https://www.bnnbloomberg.ca/business-sentiment-rises-in-canada-inflation-expectations-jump-1.1667910

https://www.reuters.com/article/canada-cenbank-idUSL1N2ME1G6

https://financialpost.com/news/economy/fidelitys-wolf-sees-bank-of-canada-forced-into-early-rate-hike

Tyler Nguyen

Manager, Economic Intelligence
(306) 952-2400