Official GDP numbers are in: Alberta’s economy shrank 8.1 per cent in 2020
The first official estimate from Statistics Canada of Alberta’s GDP in 2020 shows that the economy shrank $27.3 billion compared to 2019 for a drop of 8.2 per cent. The next largest annual contraction in at least four decades was in 2009 when provincial output fell by 5.3 per cent. Unfortunately, the economic damage in Alberta last year was even worse than we were expecting it to be. ATB’s most recent forecast pegged the drop in GDP at 7.1 per cent while the average across Canada’s five largest chartered banks* was for a contraction of 6.9 per cent. The combined effects of the oil price crash and pandemic pushed Alberta’s GDP down the most of any province. At -5.3 per cent, the national economy shrank by a more modest, though still extremely painful, amount.
*Known as the Big 5, Canada’s largest chartered banks are BMO, CIBC, RBC, Scotia and TD. Answer to the previous trivia question: British Columbia is home to the largest number of forestry workers in Canada at 33.5 per cent of the total in 2019. Alberta’s share is 10.1 per cent. Today’s trivia question: For the “May the Fourth be with you” fans: What was the production cost of the original Star Wars movie?
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