ST. LOUIS — The St. Louis economy sustained less damage from the pandemic than the national economy, but it is coming back more slowly, economists at the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis said.
"The decline was less severe, but the recovery has been slower," Chuck Gascon, regional economist at the St. Louis Fed, said during a web conference Tuesday. Gascon said the reasons may include more restrictive lockdown policies in St. Louis and St. Louis County.
"The level of activity is still down 20% to 30% in St. Louis," such as "fewer trips to grocery stores, less eating out," he said.
Often, differences in industry mix are the reason for differences between local and national rates, but the mix in St. Louis is similar to that of the U.S., Gascon said.
As for the industry sectors that are doing better — not great, but better — in St. Louis than in the overall U.S. economy include health care and professional business services, he said.
In banking specifically, Luanne Cundiff, president and CEO of First State Bank St. Charles, said during the webinar that the trends in St. Louis mirror those nationally: strong loan growth, fueled in part by Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) lending; record capital levels, including much higher Tier 1 risk-based capital than in the 2008 recession; strong asset quality, with increased loan loss reserves in the event of future loan problems; lower net interest margins due to stubbornly low interest rates; and robust deposit growth, up $1.2 trillion at banks nationally.
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