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May 31, 2023NON-RESIDENTIAL FIXED CAPITAL INVESTMENT, Q1 2023 Non-residential fixed capital investment consists of expenditures made by business, governments and non-profit institutions serving households that add to the capital stock for production of goods and services in an economy. Investment that are included are buildings, engineering construction (i.e. bridge, mine structure), machinery and equipment, and intellectual property products (i.e. software, mineral exploration) but it doesn’t include non-reproducible assets (lands, mineral deposits, natural resources) or housing investment. Statistics Canada has begun to release quarterly data on non-residential fixed capital investment and stock for the provinces with historical data back to 2013. Note, the data is not seasonally adjusted and expressed in current prices.
Year-over-year (Q1 2023 vs Q1 2022)
Nova Scotia non-residential investment (all sectors, all assets, current prices) increased 5.8% from Q1 2022 to Q1 2023, which was a slower pace than other provinces. Nationally non-residential investment was up 7.7% with Alberta and Newfoundland and Labrador (both +9.4%) posting the largest increase.
Business sector investment in Nova Scotia increased 6.3%, which was slower than the national pace of 7.9%. Newfoundland and Labrador recorded the fastest growth while Prince Edward Island reported the slowest.
Government fixed capital investment increased 5.3% in Nova Scotia from Q1 2022 to Q1 2023, the slowest pace among provinces by a notable margin. Across Canada, government investment (which includes all orders of government) was up 7.2% with the fastest gain in Saskatchewan.
Nova Scotia non-residential building investment was up 3.0% compared to Q1 2022. Nationally, non-residential building investment was up 3.8% with fastest growth in Ontario and slowest in Newfoundland and Labrador.
Engineering construction investment was up 18.0% in Nova Scotia and 16.3% in Canada with all provinces reporting double-digit growth. Growth was fastest in Prince Edward Island and slowest in Newfoundland and Labrador and Alberta.
Machinery and equipment investment was up 1.4% in Nova Scotia, slower than the other provinces. Nationally, machinery and equipment was up 2.3% with the fastest growth in Prince Edward Island.
Intellectual property investment was up 4.7% in Nova Scotia compared to Q1 2022. The fastest growth was in Newfoundland and Labrador and slowest in Prince Edward Island.
Nova Scotia's investments in fixed non-residential capital were almost evenly split between government investment ($942 million) and business investment ($863 million). Machinery and equipment made up the largest asset category of investment ($720 million), followed by engineering construction ($413 million).
All asset categories were up from Q1 2022 and engineering construction (+18.0%) reported the fastest year-over-year change among asset categories. Business sector investment (+6.3%) grew faster than the government sector (+5.3%) and the unchanged non-profit sector investment (0.0%).
Trends
Nova Scotia's non-residential investment has generally trended up on a year-over-year basis, with the notable exception of 2020.
Business sector non-residential investment trended downward over 2016 to 2020, before trending upwards over 2021-2023 Q1.
Government and non-profit institution serving households was mostly flat from 2014 through 2017, trended upwards from 2017 to 2021 and plateaued in 2022.
Nova Scotia's investments in non-residential buildings declined from 2013 to 2016 and rose from 2016 to 2020. After a dip in 2020, Nova Scotia's investment in non-residential buildings recovered to its rising trend in 2021 and 2022.
Nova Scotia's investments in engineering construction assets have trended up since 2018.
Nova Scotia's investments in machinery and equipment assets have been on a declining trend since 2019.
Nova Scotia's investments in intellectual property products has mostly trended up since 2013 with occasional spikes associated with specific offshore exploration projects.
Statistics Canada. Table 34-10-0163-01 Flows and stocks of fixed non-residential and residential capital, by sector and asset, provincial and territorial (x 1,000,000)
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