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Canada The World Fact Book - 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. Canada enjoys a substantial trade surplus with the US, which absorbs about three-fourths 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 enjoyed solid economic growth from 1993 through 2007. Buffeted by the global economic crisis, the economy dropped into a sharp recession in the final months of 2008, and Ottawa posted its first fiscal deficit in 2009 after 12 years of surplus. Canada's major banks, however, emerged from the financial crisis of 2008-09 among the strongest in the world, owing to the country's tradition of conservative lending practices and strong capitalization. During 2010, Canada's economy grew only 3%, because of weak exports. | |
| GDP (purchasing power parity): | $1.335 trillion (2010 est.) | |
| GDP (official exchange rate): | $1.564 trillion (2009 est.) | |
| GDP - real growth rate: | 3% (2010 est.) | |
| GDP - per capita (PPP): | $39,600 (2010 est.) | |
| GDP - composition by sector: |
agriculture: 2.3% industry: 26.4% services: 71.3% (2008 est.) |
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| Labor Force: | 18.59 million (2009 est.) | |
| Labor force - by occupation: | agriculture 2%, manufacturing 13%, construction 6%, services 76%, other 3% (2006) | |
| Unemployment Rate: | 8% (2010 est.) | |
| Population Below Poverty Line: | 10.8%; note - this figure is the Low Income Cut-Off (LICO), a calculation that results in higher figures than found in many comparable economies; Canada does not have an official poverty line (2005) | |
| Household income or consumption by percentage share: |
lowest 10%: 2.6% highest 10%: 24.8% (2000) |
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| Distribution of family income - Gini index: | 32.1 (2005) | |
| Inflation rate (consumer prices): | 1.6% (2010 est.) | |
| Investment (gross fixed): | 22.1% of GDP (2009 est.) | |
| Budget: |
revenues: $605.7 billion expenditures: $677.7 billion (2009 est.) |
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| Public Debt: | 82.5% of GDP (2009 est.) | |
| Agriculture Products: | wheat, barley, oilseed, tobacco, fruits, vegetables; dairy products; forest products; fish | |
| Industries: | transportation equipment, chemicals, processed and unprocessed minerals, food products, wood and paper products, fish products, petroleum and natural gas | |
| Industrial production growth rate: | 5.8% (2009 est.) | |
| Electricity Production: | 620.7 billion kWh (2007) | |
| Electricity - production by source: |
fossil fuel: 28% hydro: 57.9% nuclear: 12.9% other: 1.3% (2001) |
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| Electricity Consumption: | 536.1 billion kWh (2007) | |
| Electricity - exports: | 55.73 billion kWh (2007) | |
| Electricity - imports: | 23.5 billion kWh (2008) | |
| Oil Production: | 3.289 million bbl/day (2009) | |
| Oil - consumption: | 2.151 million bbl/day (2009) | |
| Oil - exports: | 2.001 million bbl/day (2008) | |
| Oil - imports: | 1.192 million bbl/day (2008) | |
| Oil - proved reserves: |
175.2 billion bbl note: includes oil sands (1 January 2010 est.) |
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| Natural gas - production: | 161.3 billion cu m (2009 est.) | |
| Natural gas - consumption: | 94.62 billion cu m (2009 est.) | |
| Natural gas - exports: | 94.67 billion cu m (2009 est.) | |
| Natural gas - imports: | 16.59 billion cu m (2009 est.) | |
| Natural gas - proved reserves: | 1.754 trillion cu m (1 January 2010 est.) | |
| Current account balance: | -$40.21 billion (2010 est.) | |
| Exports: | $406.8 billion f.o.b. (2010 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 75.02%, China 10.88, Mexico 4.56% (2009) | |
| Imports: | $406.4 billion f.o.b. (2010 est.) | |
| Imports - Commodities: | machinery and equipment, motor vehicles and parts, crude oil, chemicals, electricity, durable consumer goods | |
| Imports - partners: | US 51.1%, China 10.88%, Mexico 4.56% (2009) | |
| Economic aid - donor: | ODA, $3.9 billion (2007) | |
| Reserves of foreign exchange and gold: | $54.36 billion (2009 est.) | |
| Debt - external: | $1.009 trillion (30 June 2010) | |
| Stock of direct foreign investment - at home: | $528.7 billion (2010 est.) | |
| Stock of direct foreign investment abroad: | $602.5 billion (2010 est.) | |
| Market value of publicly traded shares: | $1.681 trillion (2009) | |
| Currency (code): | Canadian dollar (CAD) | |
| Currency code: | CAD | |
| Exchange Rates: | Canadian dollars per US dollar - 1.0346 (2010), 1.1431 (2009), 1.2118 (2005), 1.301 (2004), 1.4011 (2003) | |
| Fiscal Year: | 1 April - 31 March | |
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