Canada may not benefit from upward projections of U.S. and global economic growth, said Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney. While the country is expected to see substantial economic growth in 2011, the nation's strong dollar will likely curb exports and limit more substantial expansion.
"We have lost competitiveness over a number of years," Bloomberg quotes Carney as saying Wednesday. "This is a product of the level of the currency. It is also a product of a relatively poor productivity performance vis-a-vis the U.S., but also Canada compared to other countries exporting into the United States as well."
In this week's quarterly economic outlook, the Bank of Canada altered a number of its growth projections for 2011 - measures that prompted Carney's reaction. Notably, the bank increased its prediction of U.S. growth to 3.3 percent - up from 2.3 percent last October.
The Bank also projected global economic growth in 2011 at 4 percent, up from 3.5 percent last fall, while Canada's growth outlook remained level at 2.4 percent for the year.
However, a number of recent surveys have found optimism to be up among many of Canada's small businesses, including farmers - a trend that will likely continue growth and job creation through the year.
