FILE PHOTO: A Canadian dollar coin, commonly known as the "Loonie", is pictured in this illustration picture taken in Toronto, January 23, 2015.
The Jan. 11-18 Reuters poll of over 40 economists predicted the economy, which grew a record annualized 40.5% in the third quarter of 2020, expanded 3.8% in the fourth quarter, a third consecutive downgrade.
“With cases and hospitalizations surging across Canada, the second wave of the pandemic threw a bucket of cold water on the economic recovery.
Many businesses already weakened by the first bout of the crisis will find it harder to survive the second wave,” said Ksenia Bushmeneva, economist at TD.
Meanwhile, the unemployment rate, which edged up in December to 8.6%, was expected to slow to 7.0% and 6.2% by end-2021 and end-2022, respectively.
Persons:
Mark Blinch, ”, Ksenia Bushmeneva, Josh Nye, Tony Stillo
Organizations:
REUTERS, “, ” Reuters, RBC Economics, Bank of, Oxford Economics, BoC
Locations:
BENGALURU, Toronto, Canada, Canadian