Today, the Honourable Chrystia Freeland, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, welcomed the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)'s 2023 Economic Survey of Canada.
The report highlights Canada's strong recovery from the pandemic while underscoring the federal government's fiscal strength, noting that Canada's "fiscal deficit has declined rapidly" and "recent budgets have included savings through public spending efficiency gains". Canada's net debt-to-GDP ratios are well below the average for the OECD, the European Union, and the United States. This continued track record of fiscal strength has allowed the government to continue providing necessary, targeted economic support to help those who need it most.
The OECD's updated economic forecasts positively reflect the resilience of the Canadian economy during a period of global economic uncertainty by projecting an improvement in GDP growth compared to its November forecasts, with growth expected to be 1.3 per cent in 2023 and 1.5 per cent in 2024. The OECD also projects that inflation will return to its target of 2 per cent by the end of 2024.
The OECD also commends Canada's ambitious actions on climate change and recognizes the central role carbon pollution pricing has in Canada's national climate plan as a way to "reduce emissions at a lower cost than other policies". The report also emphasizes how "public investment, including in green energy projects, can spur activity and job creation in hard-hit regions", and that the proposed federal carbon capture, utilization, and storage investment tax credit is "appropriately designed".
The OECD "welcomes" recent investments in health care, including the Canada Dental Benefit, and highlighted Canada's commitment to moving forward on plans to address key social-economic challenges. In particular, the OECD underscores the importance of the Canada-wide affordable early learning and child care system, which is already helping to reduce gender gaps and make life more affordable for Canadian families.
Finally, the OECD calls on Canada to continue improving productivity and investment growth, which "has weakened relative to the United States and other leading OECD economies", and to continue its focus on reducing barriers to internal trade and on harmonizing rules governing trade and labour mobility between provinces and territories to improve competitiveness. The federal government agrees.
