OTTAWA - TD Bank is dramatically downgrading its expectations for the Canadian and global economies.
The bank's new forecast for Canada is that growth will be limited to 1.7 per cent next year as global activity slows to 2.5 per cent.
Both estimates represent a more modest outlook than is predicted by the Bank of Canada as well as the economists consensus used by the federal government in its fall economic update.
Next year's growth expectation is two decimal points lower than the TD's previous call, and it has shaved 0.4 points off its previous forecast for 2013 to a modest 2.2 per cent.
The bank's economists also expect Canada's unemployment rate to climb to as high as 8 per cent next year from the current 7.4.
They say Canada's weakness mostly stems from external factors. The global slowdown will put a damper on Canadian exports and business and consumer confidence, they predict.
