Another bleak economic forecast has been released for Alberta.
ATB Financial says Alberta’s economy is set to contract one point nine per cent this year following a four per cent contraction in 2015 which means two consecutive years of recession.
“We haven’t seen that in Alberta since the 1980s,” says ATB Economist Todd Hirsch. “We're hoping that 2017 we return to some modest level of growth that's our expectation but we’re kind of right in the belly of this recession at the moment.”
Hirsch says Alberta’s energy sector and related industries will continue to shed jobs meaning a challenging time for Albertans as the labour market moves into the toughest part of the year impactING our provincial unemployment rate.
“We will see that unemployment rate crest above eight per cent and maybe even close to nine per cent before it stabilizes at the end of the year and gradually starts to improve in 2017,” says Hirsch.
However it’s not all bad news, Hirsch says oil prices are starting to rebound at between $45 and $50
“That rebound has been encouraging but it’s still a low price environment for our producers in this province,” says Hirsch. “We really need those oil prices to get back up to the $55 or $60 dollar level before things stabilize.”
Hirsch says we should start seeing a bit more stability in the petroleum market within the next couple of months.
He says the Fort McMurray wildfire is the biggest event to negatively impact the Alberta economy in the second quarter of this year but the rebuilding effort will be instrumental in creating a bit more of a boost to our economy in 2017.
