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Economic effects of COVID-19 on B.C. still uncertain: finance minister

VICTORIA (NEWS 1130) – The long-term economic impacts over COVID-19 on B.C. are still up in the air, according to the province’s finance minister.

Carole James says it is still too early to quantify the effects, but she expects some kind of impact on the provincial economy.

“We’ll be discussing this issue with colleagues across the country, I expect as well,” James said. “There is no question that it will have an impact on British Columbia. We’re a small, open economy and anything that buffets from the outside is going to have an impact on British Columbia.”

James says there are contingencies in the budget to deal with outside issues like this that impact the province.

“Anything from the outside that’s going to have an impact on British Columbia’s economy is why we built in a forecast allowance, why we have contingencies, why we have the surplus, why we’ve predicted growth lower than the forecast council’s growth,” she said.

James says any impact to the economy may not be seen until the next fiscal year begins in a few weeks, but she does expect many economies to contract.

“I think there’s no question. You’re certainly hearing globally that growth is being downgraded in a number of places and, as B.C. is not an island, we’re not immune. It’s going to have an impact on us,” she said.

The U.S. Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate by half a percentage point Tuesday, while experts predict the Bank of Canada will cute rates this week to fend off unrest within the market.

B.C. recorded its ninth case of COVID-19 Tuesday. A man returning from Iran to the Fraser Health Region began to feel ill and is now in self-isolation.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Tuesday that despite the risk to Canadians remaining low, his government is working with the international community to keep people safe from the novel coronavirus.

Meanwhile some Canadian companies are telling their employees to stay at home for several days if they are returning from certain COVID-19 hotspot including China, South Korea, Iran, and Italy

Canada has at least 29 cases of the virus known as COVID-19.

With files from Liza Yuzda

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