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The Economy of Canada

Canadian Economy

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Economy - overview: As an affluent, high-tech industrial society in the trillion-dollar class, Canada resembles the US in its market-oriented economic system, pattern of production, and affluent living standards. Since World War II, the impressive growth of the manufacturing, mining, and service sectors has transformed the nation from a largely rural economy into one primarily industrial and urban. The 1989 US-Canada Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and the 1994 North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) (which includes Mexico) touched off a dramatic increase in trade and economic integration with the US, its principle trading partner. Canada enjoys a substantial trade surplus with the US, which absorbs nearly 80% of Canadian exports each year. Canada is the US's largest foreign supplier of energy, including oil, gas, uranium, and electric power. Given its great natural resources, skilled labor force, and modern capital plant, Canada has enjoyed solid economic growth, and prudent fiscal management has produced consecutive balanced budgets from 1997 to 2007. In 2008, growth slowed sharply as a result of the global economic downturn, US housing slump, plunging auto sector demand, and a drop in world commodity prices. Public finances, too, are set to deteriorate for the first time in a decade. Tight global credit conditions have further restrained business and housing investment, despite the conservative lending practices and strong capitalization that made Canada's major banks among the most stable in the world.

GDP:

GDP - real growth rate: 0.6% (2008 est.) 2.7% (2007 est.) 3.1% (2006 est.)

GDP - per capita:

GDP - composition by sector: agriculture: 2% industry: 28.4% services: 69.6% (2008 est.)

Population below poverty line:

Household income or consumption by percentage share: lowest 10%: 2.6% highest 10%: 24.8% (2000)

Distribution of family income - Gini index: 32.1 (2005)

Inflation rate (consumer prices):

Labor force: 18.18 million (2008 est.)

Labor force - by occupation: agriculture 2%, manufacturing 13%, construction 6%, services 76%, other 3% (2006)

Unemployment rate: 6.1% (2008 est.)

Budget: revenues: $608.3 billion expenditures: $606 billion (2008 est.)

Industries: transportation equipment, chemicals, processed and unprocessed minerals, food products, wood and paper products, fish products, petroleum and natural gas

Industrial production growth rate: -1% (2008 est.)

Electricity - production: 612.6 billion kWh (2007 est.)

Electricity - production by source:

Electricity - consumption: 530 billion kWh (2006 est.)

Electricity - exports: 50.12 billion kWh (2007 est.)

Electricity - imports: 19.66 billion kWh (2007 est.)

Oil - production: 3.425 million bbl/day (2007 est.)

Oil - consumption: 2.371 million bbl/day (2007 est.)

Oil - exports: 2.225 million bbl/day (2005)

Oil - imports: 1.229 million bbl/day (2005)

Oil - proved reserves: 178.6 billion bbl note: includes oil sands (1 January 2008 est.)

Natural gas - production: 187 billion cu m (2007 est.)

Natural gas - consumption: 92.9 billion cu m (2007 est.)

Natural gas - exports: 107.3 billion cu m (2007 est.)

Natural gas - imports: 13.2 billion cu m (2007 est.)

Natural gas - proved reserves: 1.648 trillion cu m (1 January 2008 est.)

Agriculture - products: wheat, barley, oilseed, tobacco, fruits, vegetables; dairy products; forest products; fish

Exports: $461.8 billion f.o.b. (2008 est.)

Exports - commodities: motor vehicles and parts, industrial machinery, aircraft, telecommunications equipment; chemicals, plastics, fertilizers; wood pulp, timber, crude petroleum, natural gas, electricity, aluminum

Exports - partners: US 78.9%, UK 2.8%, China 2.1% (2007)

Imports: $436.7 billion f.o.b. (2008 est.)

Imports - commodities: machinery and equipment, motor vehicles and parts, crude oil, chemicals, electricity, durable consumer goods

Imports - partners: US 54.1%, China 9.4%, Mexico 4.2% (2007)

Debt - external: $758.6 billion (30 June 2007)

Economic aid - recipient:

Currency:

Currency code:

Exchange rates: Canadian dollars (CAD) per US dollar - 1.0364 (2008 est.), 1.0724 (2007), 1.1334 (2006), 1.2118 (2005), 1.301 (2004)

Fiscal year: