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REGINA, SASKATCHEWAN--(Marketwired - May 4, 2015) - Saskatchewan's economy is being tripped up by the slide in oil prices, but other resource sectors are expected to provide a buffer, according to the BMO Blue Book released today by BMO Capital Markets Economics and BMO Commercial Banking.

Much like the U.S. Federal Reserve's Beige Book, the BMO Blue Book combines the expertise of BMO's economists with information on current business conditions provided to BMO's commercial bankers by local businesspeople.

"Saskatchewan's business owners are adopting a new level of caution given the recent drop in oil and gas prices," said John MacAulay, Senior Vice President, Prairies and Central Canada, BMO Bank of Montreal. "With that being said, we have not seen a significant amount of weakening among our customers and we're hopeful that most of them will be able to weather the downturn and emerge from this period of lower prices in a healthy state."

"Real GDP is expected to remain subdued at 1.0 per cent in 2015," said Robert Kavcic, Senior Economist, BMO Capital Markets. "The oil sector is expected to retrench this year amid a much weaker price environment, but other resource sectors are expected to buffer the weakness in oil. This includes an expected 8 per cent increase in potash production, while farm-sector growth is expected to normalize after steep production declines in 2014."

Mr. Kavcic noted that the labour-market performance has weakened in recent months, with employment growth slowing to 0.4 per cent year over year in the first quarter alongside a drop in private-sector jobs. "Population growth remains historically high at 1.5 per cent year over year, but those inflows are facing a higher unemployment rate; the jobless rate is still relatively low at just under 5 per cent, but that's up from just 3.4 per cent as recently as November."

Housing demand has also weakened, with existing home sales sliding more than 12 per cent year over year in the first quarter. In the resale market, the months' supply of homes for sale has shot up to more than nine, the highest in at least a decade. As a result, prices are correcting with Regina's benchmark price down more than 6 per cent since its late-2013 high.

Mr. MacAulay added that BMO is committed to its commercial customers, noting that they are checking in on a weekly basis to see how they are faring. "BMO's team of experts is here to help customers in the region make decisions that boost productivity, enable them to expand into new markets and make strategic investment decisions that will propel growth and drive success, and weather periods of economic volatility," he said.

The full BMO Blue Book can be downloaded at www.bmocm.com/economics.

About BMO Financial Group

Established in 1817, BMO Financial Group is a highly diversified financial services provider based in North America. With total assets of approximately $672 billion as of January 31, 2015, and more than 46,000 employees, BMO provides a broad range of retail banking, wealth management and investment banking products and services to more than 12 million customers and conducts business through three operating groups: Personal and Commercial Banking, Wealth Management and BMO Capital Markets.