Canada is better placed than many industrialized countries to shelter itself from "the gathering U.S. economic storm," Bank of Nova Scotia said Monday in a report on the global economic outlook.

Rising commodity prices are bolstering Canadian exports, a "legacy of household caution" kept Canadian consumers from being swept up in the subprime mortgage crisis that has convulsed global financial markets, and the commitment of Canadian governments to balanced budgets "is now proving to be an important national strategic advantage," the bank's economists said.

Still, it will be "a long and winding road" to global economic recovery, with growth expected to slow even further in 2009 before the world's major economic players start gaining traction again, according to their projections.

"We expect United States growth in 2009 to be even weaker than this year's paltry 1.5 per cent advance," chief economist Warren Jestin said in releasing the bank's global outlook report.

Continued at Globe and Mail