Canada held onto its 11th place ranking among 17 of the wealthiest countries in the world amid the financial turmoil of 2008. However, its "B" grade performance suggests that our country will have difficulty outperforming its peers once the recession passes, a report cautioned Monday.
"Canada's 11th place ranking means it remains near the back of the class among its peer countries," Glen Hodgson, senior vice-president and chief economist of the Conference Board of Canada, said in the report. "For example, Norway is the leading country in our analysis and it has an income per capita of nearly $9,200 U.S. more than we do. We cannot take for granted that Canada will come through the recession better than its peers. Canada is still lagging on key indicators of sustainable economic growth."
Despite falling per capita income, lower GDP growth, lower employment growth and negative productivity growth, Canada hung onto 11th place in the Conference Board ranking thanks to the fact that its peers were affected more adversely by the financial crisis of 2008, the board states. Since the Conference Board began international benchmarking in 2008, there has never been a year in which relative ranking changed so dramatically, it said in the report.
Ireland plunged from the top of the list to the bottom as foreign direct investment, the main stimulus for the country's surging performance in the past decade, evaporated. Finland fell from sixth to 15th spot, while Norway moved into the #1 position, being the only country to receive an "A" grade for employment growth in 2008. The report came as other advisories warned Monday the road to recovery from the financial crisis of 2008 is still fraught with peril. The World Bank stated that "2009 remains a dangerous year," and it advised the G8 nations, which meet this week in Italy, that a global economic recovery for Canada and the other industrialized nations that make up the group may not be at hand.
Meanwhile, Merrill Lynch/Bank of America's new Canadian economist, Sheryl King, on Monday revised upward the bank's forecast for the Canadian economy, saying that GDP would fall two% in 2009, after earlier forecasting a 2.7% decline and that it will increase 2.7% in 2010, after earlier predicting 2.3% growth. However, although King said fiscal and monetary stimulus measures will produce growth, she added: "While these are rather significant upgrades to the outlook, we remain bearish longer term. Restructuring and credit issues are going to be headwinds for the Canadian economy for the next couple of years.
"The upturn in the economy will be very short-lived indeed."
Hodgson of the Conference Board added that improving the fundamentals, like productivity, "is the only sustainable way to reduce the performance gap between Canada and other countries."
Now... here's the list of top 17 countries and their rankings:
1. Norway: A 2. Switzerland: A 3. Netherlands: A 4. Austria: A 5. Denmark: B 6. Australia: B 7. Sweden: B 8. United States: B 9. France: B 10. United Kingdom: B 11, Canada: B 12. Belgium: C 13. Germany: C 14. Japan: C 15. Finland: D 16. Italy: D 17. Ireland: D
Canada held onto its 11th place ranking among 17 of the wealthiest countries in the world amid the financial turmoil of 2008. However, its "B" grade performance suggests that our country will have difficulty outperforming its peers once the recession passes, a report cautioned Monday.
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