BCREA Nowcast

The BCREA Nowcast estimate of provincial economic growth (expressed as year-over-year growth in real GDP) for July is -4 per cent. For comparison, the Canadian economy contracted 4.9 per cent year-over-year in July.

We have also included a preliminary estimate for August 2020 of -3.2 per cent. While year-over-year growth remains negative, the rate of decline is slowing as the economy continues to improve on a monthly basis.

Growth of provincial GDP is a key indicator of economic activity, but provincial GDP data is only available annually and with a considerable delay. That's why we developed the BCREA Nowcast – a tool for tracking monthly growth in the BC Economy. The Nowcast compiles monthly economic data into one easy to understand number, expressed as the year-over-year growth in the BC economy.

As the underlying economic data is released with a one- or two-month lag, our estimates for monthly growth will also lag real-time by two months (e.g., estimated growth in January will be published at the end of March). There are no adjustments to the model estimate except for those due to revisions to the underlying data.

For more information, please contact:
Brendon Ogmundson
Chief Economist
Direct: 604.742.2796
Mobile: 604.505.6793
Email: [email protected]