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After more than a year of economic weakness caused by tumbling resources prices, Saskatchewan’s economy is expected to emerge from recession and grow faster than any other province except Alberta this year, according to a new Conference Board of Canada report.

A rebound in oil drilling activity and investment in thermal heavy oil extraction plants, like Husky Energy Inc.’s $1 billion commitment last year, should help the province’s economy grow by 2.5 per cent in 2017, the Ottawa-based think tank predicted.

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“The difficulties in the resources sector are slowly dissipating and helping Alberta and Saskatchewan emerge out of recession,” Conference Board associate director Marie-Christine Bernard said in a statement on Monday.

“However, the turnaround is still in its early stages and a full recovery will take time,” the Conference Board said in its report, adding that continued weakness in business investment in and out of the resource sector could continue to hurt economic growth.

Saskatchewan’s economy has been buffeted by weak resource prices. While some firms continue to develop new projects, energy and mining companies have for the most part spent the last 12 months cutting costs.

That could be changing, however. In its report — which projects that Alberta will lead all provinces in terms of growth this year — the Conference Board said Saskatchewan is “on a more solid footing than it was one year ago.”