There were only two jurisdictions in Canada to experience a decline in industrial gross domestic product in 2023 and the NWT was one of them.
It was by a very narrow margin, however, as the territory’s GDP contracted by 0.1 per cent.
Newfoundland and Labrador’s GDP also dropped, but much more, by close to 2.5 per cent.
Nunavut experienced the greatest economic growth in the country at 3.4 per cent and Yukon was up more than 1.5 per cent.
In the NWT, diamond mining, which still makes up a substantial portion of the territorial economy, fell by 1.9 per cent while oil and gas extraction — a much smaller slice of the overall pie — plummeted by 33.5 per cent.
Transportation and warehousing declined by 3.6 per cent and air transportation was also down compared to 2022 — still below pre-pandemic levels.
Finance and insurance and retail trade also contracted.
On the positive side of the ledger, the construction industry grew by 7.8 per cent.
Accommodations and food services made a return to pre-pandemic levels, increasing by 6.2 per cent between 2022 and 2023, according to Statistics Canada’s data.
Healthcare and social assistance rose by 4.2 per cent and wholesale trade was up by 4.5 per cent.
Public administration expanded by a modest 0.9 per cent year over year.
“Typically, GDP in the NWT is driven by a few goods producing industries that may rise or fall over the short to
medium term. In contrast, the service producing sector tends to increase steadily over time,” the NWT Bureau of Statistics stated in a May 1 news release. “The pandemic disrupted both sectors in 2020 with both experiencing a partial recovery in 2021. Since then, the service sector has returned to pre-pandemic levels while the goods sector has slightly declined.”
The latest GDP reporting is based on initial industrial data at this juncture. A release of final 2023 GDP data — including income and expenditures — is set for November. It will also contain revised estimates for GDP in 2021 and 2022.