CFIB Says Recession Avoidable

The Canadian economy was expected to grow at a very slow pace for the last quarter of 2022 (1.2 per cent annualized) and into early 2023 (0.6 per cent annualized), says the ‘Main Street Quarterly’ report by the Canadian Federation of Independent Business (CFIB). The report also forecasts the Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation, both total and excluding food and energy, to recede in the first quarter of 2023 and reach 5.7 per cent and five per cent on a year-over-year basis, respectively. “We forecast that the economy has been on a slowdown last quarter and should continue on that path this quarter without, however, contracting, which should make a recession avoidable,” says Simon Gaudreault, chief economist and vice-president of research at CFIB.