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November 09, 2020PROVINCIAL ECONOMIC ACCOUNTS 2019 The Provincial Economic Accounts provide the official estimates of Nova Scotia's gross domestic product (GDP) and select indicators. The estimates released today include revisions for the years 2017 and 2018 and the first estimate of expenditure and income for 2019. Nova Scotia real GDP growth was revised up 0.2 percentage points to 1.8% in 2017 and 0.4 percentage point to 1.9% in 2018.
In 2019, real GDP increased 1.9% in Canada with every province and territory except Saskatchewan (-0.7%) reported growth. Prince Edward Island (+5.1%) had the fastest growth in 2019. Nova Scotia real GDP increased 2.4% in 2019. All the Atlantic provinces reported faster growth in 2019 than 2018 and the other provinces reported slower growth.
For Canada, household spending growth was 1.6% in 2019. Real (adjusted for price changes) household consumption was up in all provinces in 2019. Prince Edward Island's household final consumption growth of 2.6% was fastest while the slowest was in Alberta (+0.5%). Nova Scotia household consumption increased 1.4%.
Government final consumption expenditures increased by 2.0% nationally with increases in all provinces. The fastest growth in Saskatchewan and British Columbia (+3.1%) and the slowest was in Manitoba (+0.1%). Nova Scotia government final consumption expenditures increased 1.8%.
Residential expenditures were down 0.2% in Canada with four provinces reporting lower expenditures: Newfoundland and Labrador, Saskatchewan, Alberta and British Columbia. Prince Edward Island (+21.4%) and Nova Scotia (+10.8%) reported the fastest growth.
Non-residential structures and machinery and equipment investment increased 1.1% in Canada. British Columbia increased 22.4% as natural gas projects ramped up. Nova Scotia declined 2.1%.
Government fixed capital formation was up 0.3% in Canada and down 1.3% in Nova Scotia in 2019. New Brunswick (-17.2%) had the largest decline and the largest increase was in Prince Edward Island (+10.7%).
Exports of goods and services (including international and interprovincial destinations) were up in seven provinces but down in New Brunswick, Manitoba, and Saskatchewan. The largest increases in exports were in Newfoundland and Labrador (+4.2%), Nova Scotia (+3.4%) and Prince Edward Island (+3.2%).
Imports (international and interprovincial sources) were up in five provinces, including Nova Scotia (+1.0%). The largest increase was in British Columbia (+2.7%) and the largest decline was in New Brunswick (-2.5%).
For 2019, nominal GDP (volumes and price change) grew 3.6% in Canada and 3.8% in Nova Scotia. All provinces reported increases. Prince Edward Island (+7.0%) reported the fastest nominal GDP growth among the provinces and Saskatchewan (+0.1%) reported the slowest growth.
Employee compensation was up in all provinces in 2019 and rose 4.4% nationally. The fastest employee compensation growth occurred in Prince Edward Island (+6.7%), followed by Quebec (+6.1%) and British Columbia (+5.6%). Nova Scotia employee compensation was up 3.0%. The slowest growth was 0.9% in Saskatchewan.
Overall household income grew by 4.5% nationally with the fastest growth in British Columbia (+6.5%) and Prince Edward Island (+6.2%). Nova Scotia household income increased by 2.9% in 2019. The slowest growth was in Saskatchewan (+1.1%).
The net operating surplus of corporations increased in five provinces with an increase of 0.6% in Canada. Nova Scotia (+19.8%) reported the fastest growth followed by Newfoundland and Labrador (+12.4%) and Prince Edward Island (+10.5%). The largest declines were in British Columbia (-7.0%) and Manitoba (-6.9%).
The Nova Scotia economy has grown for six consecutive years after declines in 2012 and 2013. Economic growth accelerated for the fifth consecutive year. Real GDP growth of 2.4% in 2019 was the fastest since 2010.
Real household consumption increased 1.4% in 2019, building on the 2.6% pace in 2017 and 1.6% in 2018. Household final consumption expenditures for goods was 0.8%, similar to pace in 2018 and increases in durable, semi-durable and non-durable. Service expenditures growth continued with growth of 1.9%.
General government final consumption expenditures grew 1.8%, the sixth consecutive year of growth. General government gross fixed capital formation was down 1.3% after growth of 13.6% in 2017 and 21.1% in 2018.
Residential structures growth increased with 10.8% growth in 2019 on strong population growth. Residential construction averaged annual growth around 5% per year over 2015-2018.
Non-residential structures (-1.6%) and machinery and equipment (-2.5%) declined in 2019. Business Investment in Intellectual Property Products was down 37.1% from lower oil and gas and mineral exploration.
The volume of exports was up 3.4%n 2019 with higher exports of both goods and services to other countries and provinces. Imports of goods and services grew 1.0% led by an increase of imported services from other provinces.
For 2019, the largest positive contributions to GDP came from increases in household consumption (0.98 percentage points), residential structures (0.78 percentage points), exports to other provinces (0.69 percentage points), government final consumption expenditures (0.60 percentage points), and exports to other countries (0.57 percentage points). Offsetting contribution to real GDP occurred due to intellectual property products (-0.60 percentage points ) and non-residential structures and machinery and equipment (-0.14 percentage points) and government fixed capital (-0.08 percentage points). Imports from other provinces (-0.75 percentage points) made a negative contribution in the real GDP calculation as they grew and need to be removed to avoid double counting growth in other areas.
Source: Statistics Canada. Provincial and territorial economic accounts, 2019
Table 36-10-0221-01 Gross domestic product, income-based, provincial and territorial, annual (x 1,000,000)
Table 36-10-0222-01 Gross domestic product, expenditure-based, provincial and territorial, annual (x 1,000,000)
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