Canadian wildfires push economy into contraction in May

The Canadian economy suffered its worst contraction in more than seven years in May, mainly due to massive wildfires in the oil-sands region of Fort McMurray, the government said Friday.

Canada's gross domestic product, the broad measure of goods and services, fell 0.6 percent in May from April, the largest monthly decline since March 2009, Statistics Canada said.

The May contraction was mainly due to lower non-conventional oil extraction, mostly from the oil-sands region, as companies were forced to temporarily shutter production as a consequence of the wildfires.

Some 100,000 people were evacuated from the region during the month.

Production in Canada's mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction sector fell 6.4 percent in May under pressure from a 22 percent drop in the non-conventional oil extraction industry.

The impact from the wildfires also hit the manufacturing sector, where output fell 2.4 percent, the steepest drop since January 2009, when the global economy was in recession following the US financial crisis.

"Today's report was roughly consistent with the 1.0 percent GDP drop currently projected for the second quarter of 2016" by the Canadian central bank, said Paul Ferley, an economist at Royal Bank of Canada.

He forecast a 1.3 percent GDP drop in the April-June quarter followed by a rebound in the third quarter that should keep the Bank of Canada holding interest rates unchanged.

Krishen Rangasamy, an economist at National Bank, said the economy looked set for a contraction of up to 1.5 percent in the second quarter.

But the stall should last only temporarily, he said, "because a sharp rebound is expected in Q3 as oil production recovers, reconstruction efforts in Fort McMurray get underway and consumers spend the extra income" from the government's enhanced child benefits program.

Canadian pipeline giant Enbridge on Friday separately reported a sharp decline in second-quarter profits due to the wildfires, but also suggested a rebound was coming.

"While the wildfires tempered a record start to the year, the impact was transitory and is not expected to have a lasting effect," Al Monaco, Enbridge president and chief executive, said in a statement.