Canada is likely going through its worst-ever recession, with more pain to come in May when the statistics authorities and analysts will have a fuller picture of the economic disaster brought about by the Coronavirus pandemic and the measures to curb its spreading.

The oil price collapse with the demand crash in the Covid-19 outbreak, and the month-long oil price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia are pressuring Canada’s economic activity, more than 5 percent of which comes from the oil and gas sector.

The recovery of Canada’s oil industry after this shock will be slow, considering the fact that the global glut threatens to fill up all available storage by as early as mid-May. Many firms may not survive this price crash.

Because of the importance of the oil industry in Canada’s economy and trade in goods, overall economic recovery in the country could be slower than analysts had initially predicted and slower than in other advanced economies that are not big oil producers.

Last updated on Sun., May 3, 2020.