...July 14, 2020 NEW YORK (S&P Global Ratings) July 14, 2020--S&P Global Ratings today said that its economic and industry risk assessments and stable trends for Canada are unchanged, despite the dual hit to Canada's economy and banking system from sharply lower oil prices and the COVID-19 pandemic. We continue to view Canada's economic and industry risks as broadly in line with those of similarly resilient banking systems within highly rated sovereigns, such as Switzerland, Norway, Sweden, and Australia. However, we expect Canada's economy will suffer from the dual hit of sharply lower oil prices and the spread of COVID-19. As a result, S&P Global Economics forecasts the Canadian economy will contract by 5.9% in 2020, before recovering by 5.4% in 2021. Canada's labor market is also facing serious strain, with unemployment peaking at 12.8% in the second quarter of 2020 according to our forecast and not recovering to pre-crisis levels until 2023. To counterbalance the hit to the economy, Canadian...
