Saskatchewan economic growth expected due to mining investment: Deloitte Canada

Deloitte Canada continues to be optimistic regarding Saskatchewan’s economic outlook this year in its April 2024 report.

Dawn Desjardins, chief economist with Deloitte Canada believes that Canada will continue to avoid a recession.

Desjardins said that the economy is growing slowly, but the first quarter looks like it may have exceeded expectations.

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“We’re seeing consumers really having to pull back because we have high net-service costs that are taking some of those funds from buying other goods and services.”

She said the outlook at the end of 2023 for this year was overall pretty weak for business investment.

Real GDP growth is expected to sit at one per cent for 2024, with Saskatchewan sitting just above at 1.4 per cent.

Deloitte Canada is forecasting an increase in the coming years, though, with Saskatchewan expected to have 3.1 per cent real GDP growth in 2025 and 3.6 per cent in 2026.

Desjardins said we are faced with a weak economy that will see slow growth in the first six months, but is expected to pick up later this year.

She said Saskatchewan was doing relatively well, with the province expecting economic growth from business and increased investment in potash and uranium.

“These significant increases are really going to help the economy as it goes through the year ahead.”

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Desjardins pointed to increased population growth and a low unemployment rate as contributing to the economy as well.

She said while agriculture production is expected to increase this year in Saskatchewan, if we face more drought conditions then that will obviously impact how much can be produced.

However, Desjardins said Saskatchewan is doing well compared to other provinces, sitting in second place and tied with Alberta.

This aligns with the province’s forecast within the provincial budget announcement in the middle of March, that revenue in the province is expected to increase by 0.9 per cent.

The province said that Saskatchewan is set to reach a total population of 1.25 million people later this year.

Oil prices are speculated to be slightly lower than the 2023-24 forecast of $77.30 a barrel to $77 a barrel. The government is also expecting potash pricing to go down from the 2023-24 forecast of $284 per KCI tonne down to $268 per KCI tonne.

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