Losses by Canadians on their financial holdings, either directly or via their pension funds, and concerns about the employment outlook will also restrain domestic consumption this year. Uncertainty about the economic outlook and strained financial conditions should lead to declines in investment spending this year. In our base-case projection, real GDP is expected to rebound in 2010, growing by 3.8 per cent.
Though seemingly impressive when viewed from the depths of a recession, such a recovery is actually more muted than usual.