Canada Cautious About Recession

Canada’s Federal Finance Minister Jim
Flaherty, said he isn’t yet ready to declare the recession over, Canadian Business reports. There are signs that a recovery is taking a foothold, he said, but declaring the recession over might be premature.

The minister’s statement seemed to contradict the Bank of Canada, which effectively declared that the recession would end in the current quarter. Much needs to be done to ensure that Canada’s economy doesn’t slide back into negative territory, said
Flaherty. He also warned that the number of Canadians receiving regular Employment Insurance (EI) benefits would likely rise in the months ahead. Statistics Canada reported that EI payouts hit their highest level in May since 1997.

Just over three quarters of a million Canadians, 778,700 people, received EI benefits in May, an increase of 65,600 or 9.2% from the month earlier.