Canada's western province of Alberta may slip into an economic recession this year because of the plunge in oil prices at the international market, the Conference Board of Canada has predicted.
The independent and non-profit economic think tank, predicted in a report released Monday that the lower oil prices would affect oil-heavy economy of Alberta most prominently and may face an actual recession instead of a slowdown, Xinhua reported.
Alberta is an energy-relied province in western part of Canada and a quarter of its revenues of the provincial capital Edmonton rely on oil field. The price of oil has jumped from $105 a barrel in June 2014 to under $50 in recent days.
"Going forward, the province is certain to suffer, especially on the employment front, from the drop in oil prices -- and it is likely to slip into recession," Daniel Fields, an economist at the think tank, said in the report.
"Engineering investment in the province nosedived by about $15 billion, some 30,000 jobs in Alberta's mining sector disappeared, and housing fell by 75 percent," Fields said.