- Avery Shenfeld, chief economist at CIBC World Markets
Canada logged a record annual current-account deficit for 2015, while a shortfall in the fourth quarter widened slightly from a revised third quarter. The current account gap increased to C$15.38 billion in the final quarter of last year from a C$15.31 billion deficit in the third quarter. Canada had a current-account deficit of C$65.71 billion for 2015, which is the widest gap since 2012. The deficit in 2014 totalled C$44.89 billion. The widening of Canada's current-account deficit last year highlights the economic shock felt from the commodity-price rout. Economic output decreased in the first half of the year, and the value of the Canadian Dollar has been on a downward trend until recently. Canada's current-account deficit is the second-biggest among the Group of Seven leading economies when measured as a percentage of gross domestic product. The average among member countries of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is a current-account surplus of 0.2% of GDP.
Statistics Canada releases fourth-quarter GDP data on Tuesday, which is widely predicted to show the country's economy stalled. Meanwhile, the recent data showed Canada's inflation accelerated at the fastest pace in over a year, with the CPI climbing to 2% in January.
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