SAINT JOHN, N.B. – The Point Lepreau generating station operating at full capacity for all of 2013 will play a key role in New Brunswick’s economic growth next year.

The Atlantic Province’s Economic Council predicts the province’s economic growth will rise to 1.5% over the next year.

APEC’s senior policy analyst Fred Bergman says the slowing of Atlantic Canada’s economic growth rate can be connected to our aging population.

“As the population ages it will consume less and it will earn less because people retire, they age, and they spend less therefore they spend less when they retire. so as the population ages, the potential output growth rates have to come down. That’s normal and it’s affecting Canada as a whole as well.”

Of the four Atlantic provinces, Newfoundland and Labrador is leading the way, with its’ economic growth expected to rise to 3.4%.