Jamie Henry
Other
A new report by BMO Nesbitt Burns suggests that Newfoundland and Labrador could slip into a shallow recession this year with Alberta on the borderline.
The outlook is for NL to see negative growth of 0.5 per cent as the province suffers from the weakened oil industry.
Alberta is expected to be flat at best, but could also tip slightly into negative growth, while Saskatchewan is likely to slow to one per cent growth.
Overall though, the outlook for the Canadian economy is more positive with the report suggesting two per cent growth this year and possibly higher in 2016 as oil prices have recovered from the lowest points of the slump.
The report does not specifically suggest a slowdown in the housing markets in the three oil-producing provinces, although consumer sentiment has already affected sales and prices to some extent and is likely to be compounded by the predicted weakening of growth.
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