This time it's from Warren Jestin, the chief economist at the Bank of Nova Scotia. Jestin and his team of Scotiabank economists updated their forecasts this afternoon. They were already among a gloomy group that was forecasting a recession.
Some numbers have been tweaked in their forecast update although the overall picture is still about as bleak.
Scotiabank though has brought out a new “Federal budget balance” figure for next year and it's a negative. Scotia is betting on a deficit of about $8-billion which, to put it in persepective, is about three per cent of the federal government's overall budget.
TD Bank's Don Drummond had a deficit estimate of greater than $10 billion next year — and that was back when TD thought Canada would avoid a recession! This afternoon, Drummond's team joined Jestin's in predicting a recession. Presumably, Drummond's deficit would also get bigger.