last year the provincial government budget for 2008 forecast the provincial economy would shrink by 2.2%. Even with the economic down-turn, the economy seems poised to grow by that much.
But that was last year.
And the provincial government number was a forecast.
In 2009, the economy in Newfoundland and Labrador will shrink. There are no bubbles to protect any economy from the recession.
The Conference Board of Canada puts the drop at 2.6% and for good reason:
Despite a positive outlook for consumer spending and construction, Newfoundland and Labrador’s economy will decline in 2009 by 2.6 per cent, the worst performance of all the provinces. Oil production continues to fall off at mature sites and the closure of the newsprint mill in Grand Falls will hurt manufacturing output.
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