With the pushing of protectionism from President Trump, the biggest obstacle to the economic expansion of Canada is within its borders. Local news emanating from Canada confirmed that the economy of Canada is closer to overheating than stumbling on the back of trade uncertainty, a situation that has compelled the Bank of Canada to introduce higher interest rates.
There is an anticipated report from Statistics Canada that the economy increased to an annual three percent rate or more in the second quarter, a feat considered as the fastest stride in a single year. It is believed to serve as a balance for the weaker start to 2018 and create more space for expansion for a profit of a rate higher than two percent for the entire year after 2017 strong 3.1 percent advance.
This huge demand is unraveling the little capacity possessed by the economy. The companies in the country are faced with a shortage of labor and production constrictions, as the inflation rate of three percent is the maximum when the Group of Seven is studied.
According to the Chief Financial Officer of the Royal Bank of Canada, Rod Bolger in a telephone interview in the previous week opined that trade uncertainty is on the mind of everybody, but there is a strong demand. The challenge faced by several clients of the Royal Bank of Canada is the sourcing of labor as it is hard to get skilled professionals and the upward pressure on labor rates cannot be ignored.
However, the tightening signs are visible as the rate of unemployment is presently at four-decade lows, improvement of pay raises, and the increase in the number of job vacancies by different companies. According to the information shown by the job listings, various businesses are offering thousands of dollars to hairstylists and mechanics in the form of signing bonuses.
Over the years, Canada has exclusively depended on the immigrants to develop its working population as its entire population advance in age. Statistics Canada released a report that in the last one year, the population of landed immigrants in the labor force was increased by 164,000 and down 72,000 for individuals that were born in Canada.
According to the economists at the Bank of Canada, the economy of the nation is expected to grow more than two percent before the emergence of inflation. This is the main reason why financial markets are not focused on the swiftness of the expansion but the pace of the rising rates and its amount. In the words of Jean-Francois Perrault, the Chief Economist at the Bank of Nova Scotia, he said that every company is complaining about the shortage in labor and confirmed that the issue of labor is the most complicated problem faced by several businesses at the moment.
In a bid to ensure a breakthrough on trade would provide relief for parts of the capacity restraints, it has been observed that brands are incapacitated in the aspect of demographics, but they can resolve labor shortage issues by purchasing more equipment and embracing new technologies. However, more trade certainty should reinforce their belief and enthusiasm to invest which will encourage them to offer increased wages that will attract more individuals into the workforce.
In the real sense, there is least expectation of investment revitalization in Canada that could overturn the entire growth trend. The reason is that businesses are careful of overstretching themselves in the Canadian economy that is presently experiencing a slowdown.
The desire of the Canadian Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau to increase immigration will offer relief significantly, but this issue will be a controversial topic in the political sphere. Research has shown that the influx of more immigrants is not the perfect solution as they may not be as productive as the persons they replaced. These factors could leave companies in a tight corner in the future as they may struggle to keep up with demand thereby stimulating inflationary pressures.
Investors see close odds that the Bank of Canada will increase borrowing costs for the fifth time by October, since the hiking cycle started in July 2017 with several increments and two additional increases by the middle of 2019. The models of the central bank stayed behind the curve on regularizing borrowing expenses from traditionally low levels, but the Stephen Poloz, the Governor of Bank of Canada, has believed that there is still some floppiness in the labor force, especially among the women and the youth, which could be attracted with lesser rates.
Economists do not entirely believe in the assertion that supply is the most significant obstacle in Canada, one of the advanced economies in the world. They opined that the companies could be making a capacity investment because demand is suppressed by other factors such as a debt extension or imbalanced wealth distribution. However, an increase in the rates may not be the perfect solution if demand is the cause of the issue.
With the availability of few options for the Bank of Canada, as its primary assignment is to confront inflation, and not focus its energy on structural challenges like production constraints and income inequality. The patience of Poloz is being tried with the inflation at a full percentage point beyond the two percent target.
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