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Kingston business leaders and government officials should expect low economic growth and approach financial markets with caution in 2013, according ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ School of Business experts.

Business professors Lynette Purda, Barry Cross, Gary Bisonette and student Robbie Mitchnick (CEO of the Queen’s University Investment Counsel) presented their predictions at the 31st annual Business Forecast Lunch.

Despite these cautions, the panel was optimistic that inflation, interest rates and unemployment levels will not rise. Operationally, they suggested that a slower economy is the ideal time to push organizations to the next level of growth. In Kingston, despite growing municipal economic challenges, there are signs of investment in the local economy. The panel made recommendations for the City to consider as a way forward.

Last year, the panelists’ accurately predicted the Canadian dollar would remain at par with the U.S., interest rates would be flat and the unemployment rate would hover near seven per cent. The only exception was the panel’s overly optimistic estimate of GDP growth, which can be attributed to the weakness in Canada’s economic growth rate in the third quarter of 2011.