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BC-based economists lower outlook for province’s economy

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VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – Central 1 Credit Union now predicts the BC economy will grow by 2.4 per cent this year. That’s down half a point from its forecast in January and a point-and-a-half slower than 2010’s growth.

“The continuing global economic slowdown is longer and more severe than anticipated earlier this year due to the European debt crisis, the political wrangling over the US debt ceiling, and the tsunami in Japan,” says the umbrella group for credit unions.

Central 1 has also cut three-tenths of a point from its forecast for 2012 to 2.8 per cent. It expects a rebound to 3.5 per cent growth in 2013 and about three per cent a year in 2014 and ’15.

Chief economist Helmut Pastrick says the recovery is continuing, “but at a modest pace, with a higher risk of recession.”

He adds BC “will grow at a faster pace when the US economy gains momentum.”

Central 1 reiterates that BC’s return to the PST from the HST will “boost consumer spending and residential investment in the short term” but will result in less business investment and lower productivity in the long term.

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