BDC survey finds most companies can climate the approaching storm

BDC survey finds most companies can climate the approaching storm

Most say they will climate the financial storm — regardless that the worst is but to come back

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Good Morning!

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There look like a number of glimmers of sunshine as clouds collect on the horizon for Canada’s financial system.

Whereas Canadian companies count on an financial downturn within the coming yr, 69 per cent say they’re ready to face it, in response to a brand new research by the Enterprise Growth Financial institution of Canada.

The BDC surveyed 1,500 small and medium-sized enterprise homeowners throughout Canada to find out their stage of confidence within the financial system, their prospects and funding plans for the yr forward.

The research reveals that whereas most companies are involved a couple of coming downturn, most (88 per cent) are worthwhile and 45 per cent say they count on to remain that approach because the financial system slows.

Total the survey gives the look of a enterprise neighborhood that’s in fairly good condition to satisfy the challenges forward. Seventy-five per cent say they’re snug with their firm’s stage of debt, and greater than half, 54 per cent, say they might tackle extra.

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That’s to not say they aren’t dealing with extraordinary challenges. Rising prices from inflation not seen in many years haven’t solely squeezed Canadian shoppers, it has additionally turned up the warmth on companies.

Forty-seven per cent of the companies surveyed rank inflation as their greatest problem.

Considerably — particularly to central bankers anxious to maintain inflation expectations in examine — most don’t see that drawback altering any time quickly. Whereas 26 per cent of companies suppose we’re within the worst of inflation now, 52 per cent say the worst is but to come back.

And it’s not rising rates of interest which might be proving the most important ache in companies’ backside traces, however vitality prices, with 51 per cent saying these are the most important exterior impediment they face. Rates of interest come second at 39 per cent and salaries third at 38 per cent.

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There’s concern although about how greater rates of interest will have an effect on gross sales. At this level 54 per cent of companies say rising charges have had no impact on gross sales. However 55 per cent count on greater borrowing prices will lower their gross sales over the following 12 months.

It’s a priority that additionally seems in a November survey by the Canadian Federation of Impartial Enterprise. In its newest Enterprise Barometer optimism for the yr forward sank to its lowest because the Nice Recession in 2009.

“Small companies are feeling the pinch of a slowing financial system and better than ever prices of doing enterprise and for a lot of the standard increase they count on to see from vacation gross sales just isn’t trying as promising this yr,” stated Andreea Bourgeois, CFIB’s director of economics.

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The CFIB survey, nevertheless, discovered that general 38 per cent of companies say they’re in good condition and solely 18 say they’re in unhealthy form.

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Now right here’s a perspective on Canada’s family debt. The maps, courtesy of the International Monetary Fund, show household debt, loans and debt securities as a percentage of gross domestic product. In 2005 before the Great Financial Crisis such debt in the United States had reached 75 to 100 per cent of GDP, while in Canada it was still at 50 per cent to 75 per cent. Fast forward to 2021 and Canada had surpassed its southern neighbour to reach 100 per cent of GDP or higher, a distinction it shared only with Australia, Norway and South Korea. Canada’s ratio stood at 112.8 per cent of GDP last year, Australia at 123 per cent, Norway at 114.7 per cent and South Korea at 102.97.

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Even after posting it steepest decline in 70 years, global debt, public and private, remained above pre-pandemic levels in 2021 at 247 per cent of global GDP, according to the latest update of the IMF’s Global Debt Database. That was down 10 percentage points from its peak in 2020, but expressed in dollar terms global debt continued to rise, reaching US$235 trillion last year.
The IMF said the unusually large swings in the ratios were caused by the economic rebound from COVID-19 and the rise in inflation that followed.

“Nevertheless, global debt remained nearly 19 per cent of GDP above pre-pandemic levels at the end of 2021, posing challenges for policymakers all over the world,” it said.

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  • Countries taking part in the COP15 biodiversity conference in Montreal say they’ve reached an agreement on four goals and 23 targets.The goals include protecting 30 per cent of Earth’s lands, oceans, coastal areas, inland waters, as well as, reducing by $500billion annual harmful government subsidies and cutting food waste in half.
  • Irek Kusmierczyk, Liberal MP for Windsor—Tecumseh, will announce funding to Workforce WindsorEssex to help protect and empower temporary foreign workers
  • Brenda Bailey, minister of jobs, economic development and innovation, and Deborah Buszard, interim president and vice-chancellor at the University of British Columbia, make announcement on StrongerBC Economic Plan and an investment in research and innovation
  • Today’s Data: Teranet/National Bank HPI, Canada industrial product and raw materials price indices, U.S. NAHB Housing Index

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It can be hard to know how much of your paycheque should be going towards your retirement, especially if you are just starting out, or you are just scraping by.

Our content partner MoneyWise’s guide has some simple financial benchmarks that tell you exactly where your finances need to be at every key stage leading up to that magical moment of no more work.

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Today’s Posthaste was written by Pamela Heaven, @pamheaven, with extra reporting from The Canadian Press, Thomson Reuters and Bloomberg.

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