Tumbling oil prices mean Alberta surplus this year now $500M deficit: premier (Edmonton Journal)

[inanna]

January 9, 2015

EDMONTON - Alberta Premier Jim Prentice says oil prices have plunged so far so fast that this year's projected budget surplus will now be a $500-million deficit.

And he says while his advisers expect oil to rebound slowly over the coming years, the budget may remain in deficit until 2018.

"It's the most serious fiscal circumstance we've seen in a generation in this province," Prentice said in an interview Thursday.

"Things have turned so dramatically that we've gone from a $1.5-billion surplus in November to what looks like a $500-million deficit based on today's projections.

Link: http://www.edmontonjournal.com/business/Tumbling+prices+mean+Alberta+surplus+this+year+500M+deficit/10713076/story.html

I have friends who moved west due to the boom. Now they're coming back. And no more sky-high real estate in Fort Mac, I'd imagine....

[applegrove]

1. If there is a recession in Alberta all the workers will just migrate

back to other parts of Canada and Alberta will not have to support them. Then when oil booms again, people will migrate back to Alberta. But Alberta will continue to complain the rest of Canada has done nothing for them.

[CHIMO]

2. My! The More things change the...

Well hello the ROC!

[applegrove]

3. What does ROC mean?

[CHIMO]

4. Well

It used to mean the Rest Of Canada!

[inanna]

5. Oil price plunge could put Alberta into recession, Conference Board says (CBC)

Posted: Jan 13, 2015 12:41 PM ET

Alberta faces a very real possibility of slipping into recession this year because of dramatically lower oil prices, the Conference Board of Canada says.

Much lower energy prices are playing out in different ways across Canada, but one place where the impact is likely to be the most prominent is Alberta's oil-heavy economy.

Many economists have slashed their growth expectations in recent months as the price of a barrel of oil has nosedived from $105 US as recently as June to under $50 today. But in a recent report, the Conference Board of Canada said the province faces more than just a slowdown — it could see an actual recession.

<snip>

Some oil patch watchers are bracing for more, as the last time oil prices cratered like this was in the recession of 2008.

"Engineering investment in the province nosedived by about $18 billion, some 30,000 jobs in Alberta’s mining sector disappeared, and housing starts fell 75 per cent," Fields said.

Link: http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/oil-price-plunge-could-put-alberta-into-recession-conference-board-says-1.2899167?cmp=rss