Canada's economy shrank by 5.4 per cent last year, official data from Statistics Canada showed Monday, making 2020 the worst year for the country's economic output since record keeping began. For comparison purposes, Canada's economy contracted almost twice as much as the U.S. did during the COVID-19 pandemic, despite the U.S. seeing far more cases per capita. Preliminary data suggests the U.S. economy shrank by 3.5 per cent last year. All in all, Statistics Canada says Canada's economic output in December was still three per cent lower than what it was in February, before COVID-19 started. Better forecasts for 2021Looking ahead to January, Statistics Canada said its early estimate was for growth in the economy of 0.5 per cent.

Source: CBC News March 02, 2021 14:16 UTC