Paul Martin's Business Update - December 17th

Paul Martin's Business Update - December 17th

This year’s record grain harvest is providing considerable lift to the economy.

In the past few weeks we’ve seen one of the major banks announce it would be revising its forecast for Saskatchewan’s economic performance because the crop was so large. And now RBC Royal has updated its projections with a significant upward revision.

The bank now expects the provincial economy will grow at roughly four per cent this year. That is up from its earlier estimate of 2.7 per cent. Basically, it increased the growth figure by 50 per cent. In the world of economics, that is a big move.

Predicting agricultural output is a difficult thing …basically economists have to wait until the end of the year to get a clear reading. So, in the meantime they use an average. Now that we have the definitive number, the forecasts are adjusted and they are saying this will be a tough year to repeat so next year’s estimate is for growth in the 2.5 per cent range as they go back to long term averages on crop production.

#canada #business #radio #report #news #martincharltoncommunications #paulmartin #wetellyourstories #grain #harvest #rbcroyal