Lately there has been a lot of talk about how Alberta might be in trouble due to low oil prices. The Western Investor wrote an article that sheds a little more light on the situation.
This is taken directly from the article.
There is a lot of media and pundit buzz about Alberta being in dire straits due to the drop in oil prices. But, in 2009 oil prices fell to US $50 a barrel and we heard the same forecasts then. And look at Alberta now.
Every province should have these problems.
Alberta generated half of the jobs in Canada last year, has near full employment and the highest incomes in the country.
The province has forecast a surplus of nearly $1 billion in 2014-15, while direct oil royalties account for only 18 per cent of Alberta’s revenues, according to the provincial government.
If Alberta was it’s own country, it would rank No.3 in the world when it comes to the Human Development Index, a United Nations global measure of income, education, and life expectancy, according to the Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
With just 4.1 million residents, Alberta has a gross domestic product of $84,390 er capita, third highest in the world, based on rankings from the International Monetary Fund.
The Province has the second lowest unemployment rate in Canada and the highest wages at more than $1,100 per week.
As well as the third largest petroleum reserves on the planet, Alberta has one of the world’s most productive agricultural sectors, with more than 50 million acres under crops and livestock.
Average annual investment per capita is $27,617 in Alberta, more than double the Canadian average and indicative of the provinces startup, heads-up, non-stop attitude.
And Alberta’s economy has legs like a quarter horse.
Today, only 2 percent of Alberta’s proven oil reserves are being mined and it will continue to produce oil for an energy hungry world for decades, perhaps centuries, to come.
A recent study from the Canadian Energy Research Institute forecasts Alberta oilsands production will reach 3.7 million barrels a day by 2020 and 5.2 in 2023.
Yet Alberta is much more than oil.
This is a diversified economy where finance, real estate and construction generate as much as the oil and gas industry.
In industrial Real Estate, as just one measure, Calgary and Edmonton make up one-third of all new construction in the country.
Alberta brims with opportunities, and it’s big hearted, low tax welcome ensures it will remain a destination of choice for investors and entrepreneurs from Canada and around the world.
This article was written by Frank O’Brien/Editor Western Investor.
Finally, an article that tells it like it is.
So is the sky falling?….you be the judge. We have seen this before and we will surely see it again.
The attitude of whether we run and hide, or we forge ahead and work a little harder, plays a big part
in our recovery.
Albertan’s have shown the world time and again that our determination and ingenuity is this provinces largest export… not oil.
Author Kevin Quintal.
Tags: