Lower Metals Prices Hurting Canada's Yukon and Northwest Territories

In its “Territorial Outlook” report, the Conference Board of Canada states that the Northwest Territories and Yukon are both facing declines in real GDP for 2015. Those declines are being predicted on the back of poor minerals and metals prices.
The outlook for Nunavut is “more promising” due to the construction industry.
Marie-Christine Bernard, Provincial and Territorial Forecast associate director, commented:

The economic forecast for the territories this year is bleak as a slump in mineral and metal prices and the difficulty in getting financing have led to mine shutdowns and new mining projects being put on indefinite hold. The downturn in the mining sector is cyclical and market conditions should improve over the remainder of the decade.

Other key points of the report include:

• Overall real GDP growth in the territories will contract by 0.9 per cent, the first setback since 2011.
• Market conditions for the mining sector should improve over the remainder of the decade.
• The Northwest Territories has the weakest medium- and long-term economic outlook of all three territories.
• Yukon’s economy is set to contract by 3.4 per cent in 2015.
• Nunavut’s economy is expected to grow by 3.8 per cent in 2015, the highest rate of growth among the provinces and territories.

Click here to read the full Conference Board of Canada press release.