Declining Canadian Dollar Has Positives Too

Canadian Dollar Slides

First Published Date: January 24, 2016

The Canadian dollar is in a declining mode and hit a 13-year low recently by hitting below 69 cents. This happened last in 2003. There is no sign of moving into positive territory in the short run, as the oil price is staying around or below $30 US.

As a wide array of global issues are unfolding, it’s hard to see anything positive enough to push up the Canadian dollar any time soon. China’s sluggish economy, Iran’s stepping into the global market, and the Syrian crisis are only a few to mention.

However, it can’t be all bad for a dollar that’s at its decade low. Yes, a low dollar means paying more at the groceries, travelling abroad less, and shopping less online and outside Canada, but it has some good sides too.

The film industry, Hollywood North, has experienced an accelerated incoming flow from Hollywood to make more movies due to the low dollar.

The tourism industry is also going through a boost as more visitors are coming in from the USA and across the globe. From hotels to dining, and everything else, the Canadian dollar makes much more sense now than before.

Shopping malls across Canada are experiencing more foreign buyers than ever before. In the past, Canadians are the one to cross the border for bargains, but the picture has reversed, as Americans are finding things a lot cheaper with currency conversions and shopping in Canada makes sense.

Industries such as animal agriculture, mining, goods and services, automotive, and anything related to manufacturing industries will be able to export more as foreign buyers will find cheaper prices more attractive due to the dollar’s nosedive.

As the Canadian dollar goes through its cycle, just like everything else, Canadians are embracing and adjusting to deal with the dollar’s peak and dips.

Positive Changes In Canadian Economy

Positive Changes In The Current Canadian Economic and Financial Situation

First Published Date: Feb 11, 2010

The Canadian financial events and news is based upon the analysis of a positive change in the current economic and financial situation in Canada. The seventh largest world economy and it is abundant with material wealth and a high-tech industrial society that belongs to the trillion -dollar class. The Canadian financial state and economy is based upon the foreign trade which is for about 2.7 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). Canada experienced its sixteenth consecutive year with solid domestic growth product, which is dependant largely upon the natural resources, skilled labour force and modern capital industries. The prudent fiscal management has produced consecutive balanced budgets from 1997 till now. 

The global recession caused slackness in the labour market and also has cost Canada some 400,000 jobs. The plunge in the stock market temporarily compounded the thriving community to delay their retirement plans. But the unemployment rate growth and the number of workers available for skilled trades and some occupation dropped. The recession has only provided a temporary stay from the tense labour market of 2007 and 2008 although; the executive action briefing has provided with a statement the labour supply is now plentiful in many industries. The present and forthcoming skill shortages are embedded with the immigration policy and practice, as well as for the use of contract and fleeting workers. In this widespread scarcity, the progressional plans hold the paramount importance throughout the organizations. The strong employment rate remains the same with 380,000 new jobs and the unemployment rate has continued to stay at an average rate of 6.0% this year which is a record low rate.

Canada is in the list of G7 countries, in surplus from 2007 to 2009 as the expectations of the OECD remains. The international trade performances remains stable during the past challenging economic recession. An almost 60% increase in the value of dollar had been observed as compared to the US dollar since 2002. The Canadian dollar is expected to be just average under US $0.96 in 2010. As for a comparison in the past few years, the United States economy as compared to Canadian financial state and economy weakened and the demand of importing Canadian goods has been affected. The export of goods and services increased by 1.9 % in 2007 when it reached by $533 billion dollars and this has improved the Canadian financial state and economy. And the imports also went by an increase of 3.2 % to $503 billion dollars to support the Canadian financial state and economy.

If the Canadian financial experts and economists bring down the rates of finances, the consumer confidence will be raised higher, it shall encourage the consumer to loosen the strings around his purse. It has been speculated that the Bank of Canada may refrain from pushing up high interest rates until mid-year. The all items consumer price index is also moving from deflation to inflation since the retail gasoline prices have been rebounded. As it has been predicted that there will be an over all global recovery of the economic recession the second of 2010, downsizing and capitalization will improve. Over the past three years, the budget surpluses have allowed the government to begin pay down of the national debt of Canada. This also has given the chance to spend more on federal programs and reduce taxes, to the government. The national debt have come to the reduced figure of 19 billion Canadian dollars.

Canadian Economy Improving Slowly For the Season

Canadian Economy Recovering

First Published Date: December 19, 2009

To streamline and minimize blog maintenance, I will be discontinuing maintaining the Canadapersonalfinancewebsite.com website (however, I will still hold the domain). I will gradually move all articles from this site to A Dawn Journal. This article originally published on the above website on Dec 19, 2009

Canada is among the countries that are seeing an upswing in the economy, with spending up and unemployment down since last year. Canadians are expecting the economy to continue improving since the recession that lasted for three quarters.

Home sales are up for the first time since last year, with an increase of up to 73%. Experts are hesitant to say that the rising prices of homes are a permanent change, however. There are some who worry that the exponential price increases are going to last for only a short period, and that the current real estate market is simply a bubble. New cars sales are among the factors that show the economy is improving.

New car sales have risen over three percent since September, and while sales are still slightly below average they are consistently improving on a monthly basis. There is some controversy over the rising levels of debt among citizens, who are now taking advantage of the lowered interest rates that have been put into place through government initiatives to help fight the recession. Citizen debts are now at an all time high, and even though the numbers of bankruptcies are down by over 27%, there are fears that debt may be increasing too much for citizens.

Despite debt concerns, most business owners remain optimistic about the future. In fact, nearly 70% of business owners are expecting to see an increase in business over the next year. With unemployment down by 8.4%, the business owners have good reason to be optimistic. Canada has experienced an influx of over 30,000 jobs in September alone, providing relief just in time for the upcoming holiday season.

Among the factors influencing the economic recovery in Canada is international trade. US automakers have begun to supply Canada with a fresh stock of automobiles, which have become less readily available since the recession began. Some experts feel that the relief is temporary, and see the unemployment rates rising again in the near future. Others have predicted a trend that will lead to further economic improvement in the country, with expectation of 2.6 percent growth in 2010, and 3.9 percent growth in 2011.

The Canadian and US economy are very closely tied, since the US is Canada’s number one trade partner. The improvement in the US automobile industry has helped to improve the Canadian economy, but there are also trends in the US that will predispose the improvement of the Canadian economy over the next two years. The US economy has been improving, and the impact will be positive for Canada, as well.

Among other factors that are improving the Canadian economy are stimulus spending, an increased budget for infrastructure, and lowered interest rates which are at an all time low. Canadians can expect to see stimulus spending remain steady throughout 2010, which will improve the economy further. The lowest unemployment rates won’t be expected until 2011, although they have continuously been falling and are expected to remain under nine percent throughout the next two years.

Financial Cynicism or Financial Skepticism?

Looking to the Future

First Published Date: Aug 17, 2009

Reading the financial pages of the newspapers – both national and international press – has become something of an endurance sport in the past 18 months. Although there have been serious issues in need of being addressed, there must also be some acknowledgement that at a certain point, bad financial news reaches a level of saturation that makes everyone reading want to bury their head in the sand and shout “no more!”. This presents financial editors with a tricky conundrum. You have to report what’s going on, but when all you seem to be reporting is one hammer blow after another, does a point arrive where the coverage begins to dictate behaviour?

There is now a great deal of cynicism when any politician says that they can see the green shoots of financial recovery. Of course, there tends to be some cynicism when any politician says anything these days. It has become de rigueur to simply disbelieve a politician by dint of their occupation. It would be tempting to assert, although one must accept that statistics do not exist to back this up, that were a prominent politician to stand up and declare that it was sunny outside, 25% of any audience would look out the window for definitive proof before trusting that it actually was. This is how politicians are viewed by the general public in almost every country. It may not be ideal, but that’s how things are.

So it becomes doubly hard for governments to persuade their electorate that financial recovery is on its way, or already here. When a populace will refuse to believe the word of a politician on principle, overcoming cynicism becomes a Herculean task. Is this how it should be? A little bit of skepticism is surely welcome, but at what stage does skepticism become deliberate contrariness? At what point do we say “the media are saying one thing, the government another – I can only trust my own judgement.”? It seems that in this case, there is no time like the present. To clarify that, we appear to be on the cusp of a recovery which may, initially, be accompanied by limited growth or none at all. Waiting for recovery with growth to take off could mean missing the best opportunities. Get on the right bus now, however, and there could be excellent payoffs when your stop comes along.

As much as we like to make our own judgements based on a commendable grasp of the information in front of us, it should be accepted that we live in a world without certainties. No-one ever got rich backing sure things, but the markets are beginning to rise. Investing at this point may be the wisest step, because once the recovery has clicked into top gear it could be too late. It may not work out the way you hoped it would, but the same is true of any investment at any time – unless you are illegally well-connected. Be cautious and suspicious by all means, but don’t let opportunity pass you by.

To streamline and minimize blog maintenance, I will be discontinuing maintaining the Canadapersonalfinancewebsite.com website (however, I will still hold the domain). I will gradually move all articles from this site to A Dawn Journal. This article originally published on the above website on Aug 17, 2009.

A Record Number Of Canadians Now Own Their Own Homes

A Nation of Homeowners – Canada

First Published Date : June 23, 2009

In the middle of a worldwide recession, would it surprise you to hear that a record number of Canadians now own their own homes? It would surprise just about anyone, surely? But that is the conclusion from a report by the Bank of Nova Scotia, details of which were reported this week. The caveat to this is that the figures refer to households that owned their own home in 2006 (with the belief that the number increased yet further in 2007) and that the full figures for 2008 will not be known for a couple of years. What is indisputable, however, is that there has been a significant increase in ownership compared with the same figures a decade earlier.

The Scotiabank report states that in 2006  a record high 68.4% of Canadian households were owned by the householder, and that there was reason to believe that the percentage increased in 2007. This was in comparison with figures for 1996 that showed a total of 63.6% of householders owning their own homes. How the figures will be effected by the recession still remains to be seen, as the compilation of the figures from a wide range of sources in a wide range of different jurisdictions takes time. It may well be that there has been some fall-off in the last couple of years as people have sought to cash in the capital locked up in their house and begun renting. However, there is little likelihood that this will have taken the numbers beneath those set a decade ago.

Reasons for this rise in the figures must include the fact that “baby boomers” now make up almost the entirety of the 45-64 age group which is considered the prime house-buying section of society. With the birth numbers having been so elevated in the last 60 years, and the improvements in medical science that have been seen in the intervening period, there are now more people than ever who are ready, willing and financially able to buy a house. Aside from this, however, the numbers have increased for those in other demographics buying houses. this can be put down in large part to the desire for owning assets for the purpose of having something to subsidize a pension. People are saving for their retirement earlier and earlier these days, and using more methods than ever before.

In addition to the headline story of the report, there was also some interesting data to be found in that 9% of Canadian households now own a second property, typically used for the purposes of a holiday, compared to 7% in 1999. How this will have been affected by individuals cashing in on their properties in order to ride out the current recession remains to be seen, and certainly it is unlikely that the numbers will rise as quickly over the next few years. Nonetheless, the changing trend towards home ownership seems to suggest that those who rent their homes will stay in the minority for some time yet.

To streamline and minimize blog maintenance, I will be discontinuing maintaining the Canadapersonalfinancewebsite.com website (however, I will still hold the domain). I will gradually move all articles from this site to A Dawn Journal. This article originally published on the above website on June 23, 2009.