Canadian business directors expect our economy to get worse

A third of Canadian business directors expect our economy to get worse

Source: Financial Post
Author: Jesse Snyder

OTTAWA — Optimism about the Canadian economy among business directors has waned over the past year, according to a new survey, as various domestic political squabbles, rising interest rates and uncertainty surrounding the North American Free Trade Agreement talks dampen Canada’s business outlook.

An annual survey from the Institute of Corporate Directors (ICD) released Monday found that 33 per cent of respondents expected the Canadian economy to improve in the next two-to-five years, down from 52 per cent in 2017. In the 2018 survey, 34 per cent of respondents now expect the Canadian economy to worsen while 26 per cent expect it to stay the same.

The findings come as the Canadian economy is expected to slow significantly from its red-hot growth in 2017.  Canada’s GDP grew 3.1 per cent in 2017, but edged down 0.1% in January and managed a tiny 0.4 per cent gain in February. However, wholesale sales rose 1.1 per cent to $62.8 billion in March, while manufacturing sales were up 1.4 per cent, above analyst estimates, according to Statistics Canada.

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