Even though Quebec’s economy is stagnating and concerns are growing among consumers and businesses, the third quarter will be positive, according to the finance minister.
• Also read: Medium-sized companies sense that the recession is approaching: the rise in interest rates is also hurting companies
• Also read: Canadian economy will narrowly escape recession, says CFIB
• Also read: Christmas gifts: Canadians plan to spend less this year
“Everything indicates that the third quarter in Quebec will be positive […] If it were negative, we would have a technical recession, but that will not be the case. If we look at all the economic data, it will be positive and therefore there is no recession in Quebec right now,” he said at a news conference on Wednesday.
When asked what these “signs” were, the minister cited retail sales, housing starts, manufacturing sales, exports and “all the data.”
Economic crisis
However, an economic slowdown is being felt in Quebec. At the beginning of October, Minister Girard himself revised his income for the current financial year downwards by around a billion dollars.
Most of the revenue decline will come from state-owned enterprises and corporate taxes, which will be lower than originally planned.
Despite everything, Eric Girard says he is confident of ending this fiscal year with the same deficit as expected, $1.67 billion before transferring the money to the Generations Fund.
Economic update
Remember that the Legault government will present its budget update on November 7th.
The issues of housing, homelessness and climate change adaptation should feature prominently in this update, as the Finance Minister has already indicated.