Investing.com – The Bank of Canada on Monday released its first-quarter 2026 consumer survey, revealing that households anticipate the conflict in the Middle East will weaken the economy and lead to higher prices. The initial survey was conducted from February 5 to 25, prior to the war’s commencement, with follow-up phone interviews taking place from February 24 to March 2. A specialized survey focusing on the war’s impact was subsequently carried out between March 26 and April 2.<\/p>\n
Before the conflict, consumer spending plans remained subdued due to concerns over elevated prices and economic uncertainty. However, consumers showed less negativity compared to the previous quarter as trade tensions eased. The Canadian Survey of Consumer Expectations indicator saw a slight increase from recent lows, with US trade actions having a diminished impact on consumers. The high cost of living continues to be a widespread concern, prompting consumers to favor Canadian-made goods and domestic vacations while reducing spending on US products and travel.<\/p>\n
Consumers continued to perceive the labor market as soft, with fears of job loss remaining high. The perceived probability of losing a job marginally increased and stays above levels recorded before trade tensions began. Job loss concerns intensified among workers in sectors where over one-fifth of employees hold positions whose tasks may be more susceptible to replacement by artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n
Near-term inflation expectations, prior to the war, were largely unchanged from the previous quarter and continue to exceed the survey\u2019s historical average. Expectations of significant food price inflation remain a key factor driving high one-year-ahead inflation expectations. Long-term inflation expectations saw a slight decline from 12 months ago.<\/p>\n
The special survey conducted after the war\u2019s outbreak found that a strong majority of households expect the conflict to harm the Canadian economy and result in increased inflation. Among respondents, 21% have canceled or postponed trips, primarily due to rising travel costs, and 28% have postponed or reduced major spending more broadly. If the war persists, consumers anticipate marked increases in gasoline and food prices over the next 12 months.<\/p>\n
This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.<\/p>\n
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#BankOfCanada #ConsumerExpectations #Inflation #MiddleEastWar #EconomicImpact #PriceHikes #CanadianEconomy #CostOfLiving #JobMarket #EconomicSurvey<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Investing.com – The Bank of Canada on Monday released its first-quarter 2026 consumer survey, revealing that households anticipate the conflict in the Middle East will weaken the economy and lead to higher prices. The initial survey was conducted from February 5 to 25, prior to the war’s commencement, with follow-up phone interviews taking place from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4323","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-middle-east-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4323","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4323"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4323\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4323"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4323"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/fajr.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4323"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}