The Atlantic Provinces Economic Council is predicting economic growth in New Brunswick is going to shift into a lower gear in 2018, with real GDP growth forecasted at 1-percent.
That compares to this year which it is expected will see 1.4-percent growth. APEC senior policy analyst Fred Bergman points to double digit growth in exports.
“I think exports year to date in the first three quarters of the year are still up 13-percent, with about 19-percent growth in energy exports and about 5-percent growth in non-energy exports,” says Bergman.
Bergman says that housing starts are up about 16-percent in the first few quarters of 2017 and the total value of existing home sales is up about 10-percent over the same time frame.
Bergman of APEC says that while they expect no growth in major project investment in 2018 it is still at an elevated level as compared to the last few years or so.
“So even though we’ve had a big project like Energy East taken off the books…we still see investment, actual investment taking place next year, i.e. the approved projects. at an elevated level, not growing but at an elevated level,” says Bergman.
He cites Port Saint John’s $205-million west side modernization project as an example.