The Canadian economy contracted 2.6 per cent in 2009,, the largest annual decline in real gross domestic product (GDP) since 1982. Since 1961, GDP has fallen just three times, the other declines occurring in 1982 (-2.9 per cent) 1991 (-2.1 per cent). Economic slowdown was widely evident throughout the economy. Despite an expansion in government expenditures (+3.0 per cent) and investment (+12.9 per cent), a lack of meaningful annual growth in consumer spending (+0.2 per cent) combined with a sharp drop in capital investment by businesses (-14.1 per cent) served to drive final domestic demand down by 1.7 per cent. In the end, however, the weakness in final domestic demand not only put further downward pressure on the overall economy as both exports (-14 per cent) and imports (-13.4 per cent) were down dramatically from the previous year.
- B.C. Stats
