(OTTAWA) Businesses are still forecasting higher-than-normal wage and price increases, but their expectations are getting closer to where they were before the pandemic, a new Bank of Canada survey suggests.

In its business outlook survey, the central bank said that for the first time since the start of the pandemic, businesses broadly expected wage growth to slow over the next year.

Businesses also generally expect the prices of their inputs and outputs to rise at a slower pace over the next 12 months.

Overall, the Business Outlook Survey indicator showed negative sentiment, with companies continuing to expect weak sales growth over the next year. One in five companies predicts an outright decline in sales.

However, the second quarter survey found that fewer companies were expecting an outright recession, with a third betting on a recession, compared to half in the first quarter.

Meanwhile, the central bank’s survey of consumer expectations also suggests that while consumer inflation expectations for the next year and the next have declined, they remain well above their pre-previous levels. the pandemic.