THUNDER BAY -- The Conference Board of Canada, a not-for-profit research organization, forecasts that Thunder Bay's economy will grow by 0.2 per cent this year, the same growth rate as last year.
The prediction comes in the group's Metropolitan Outlook on 15 medium-sized cities across the country.
Manufacturing in the city, the report says, is on track to fall by 3.5 per cent this year due to pulp and newsprint prices remaining "tepid".
Despite the authors' use of the word "sluggishly" to describe the overall rate of growth of Thunder Bay's real gross domestic product, they sounded a more positive note for the local construction industry. It's forecast to accelerate output by 1.7 per cent this year, due largely to government infrastructure spending.
After what the report describes as a solid 1.1 per cent advance in 2016, employment in Thunder Bay is projected to inch ahead by 0.1 per cent this year.
Economic growth in Greater Sudbury will outpace Thunder Bay at 1.2 per cent, despite a slight drop in employment there.
The Conference Board notes that Sudbury is currently contemplating construction of a new multi-purpose event centre.
