Bank of Canada Survey Find Business Sentiment Has Improved, Outlook Uncertain
19 October 2020 - 3:59PM
Dow Jones News
By Kim Mackrael
OTTAWA--Business sentiment in Canada improved in recent months
as economic activity resumed, but the overall outlook remained
relatively weak at the end of the summer, a Bank of Canada survey
found.
The central bank's quarterly business outlook survey found many
firms expected their sales would continue to rebound from the low
levels recorded earlier this year, when government restrictions to
contain the new coronavirus were first imposed. However, businesses
added the pace of their recovery would likely slow compared with
the summer months. Roughly one-third of businesses surveyed said it
could take a year or more before their sales return to prepandemic
levels.
"As in the summer survey, many firms referred to uncertainty
about the return of containment measures and the unknown timing of
a broadly available vaccine," the survey said. The Bank of Canada
has previously said it expected the pace of Canada's recovery to
slow over the autumn months, as pent-up demand from the spring was
worked off.
Overall, the survey found firms' investment intentions remained
weak and their hiring plans were still modest. Businesses'
inflation expectations moved up from the low levels recorded in the
summer, the central bank said, but remained in the lower half of
the bank's 1% to 3% target range.
The Bank of Canada survey was conducted from late August to
mid-September, before cases of Covid-19 began to rise sharply in
some parts of the country. Canada's two most populous provinces,
Quebec and Ontario, both tightened business restrictions in recent
weeks to address a surge in new cases.
Write to Kim Mackrael at kim.mackrael@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
October 19, 2020 10:44 ET (14:44 GMT)
Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.