Canada’s economy is performing better but the rising loonie and increased household debt are red flags that could slow a recovery from the recession, a slew of new reports released yesterday show.
Economists and the Bank of Canada itself warned there are still significant issues adding stress to the economy.
For the central bank, a risk is rising household debt, which could dampen consumer spending and make any recovery weaker.
Statistics Canada reports on manufacturing and new car sales both saw a levelling off from previous drops. Manufacturing sales levelled off between February and April, after falling by 18.7 per cent between October and January.
StatsCan also said the number of new motor vehicles sold remained essentially unchanged in April at 121,290, following a strong increase in March. April sales were eight per cent higher than in December.
