ST. JOHN'S, N.L. — If you ignore oil and gas extraction, the St. John’s metropolitan area had pretty good economic growth in 2023.
Overall GDP in the metro area, excluding oil and gas, totaled roughly $12.7 million in 2023, a 0.8 per cent growth compared to last year.
However, factoring in a 13.3 per cent decrease in oil production this year, true GDP in the St. John’s area dropped 1.3 per cent overall to $15.8 million.
Inflation saw food prices rise 7.8 per cent and overall led to a 4.1 per cent increase in retail sales totaling $4.8 billion.
However, overall inflation steadied throughout the year and sat around 3.7 per cent by December - a significant drop compared to a 32-year high of 5.9 per cent in 2022. Unemployment also dropped to six per cent.
Population and household income grew in 2023, with 223,667 people (2.1 per cent growth) earning roughly $12.3 billion (a five per cent increase).
Despite the population growth, new housing starts fell 33.4 per cent to 488 due to higher interest rates and construction costs, with the cost of housing growing by 3.1 per cent.
Barring continuous increases in inflation, St. John’s GDP is expected to return to growth in 2024 thanks to ramped-up oil production from Terra Nova FPSO and the West White Rose project.
The full 2023 St. John’s CMA economic review is available online at stjohns.ca/en/business-investment/resources/Documents/Economic-Reports/2023-Economic-Review.pdf.
