Aug 30, 2018
Canada’s Economy Accelerates to 2.9% in the Second Quarter
Bloomberg News
,(Bloomberg) -- Canada’s economy grew at the fastest pace in a year in the second quarter as exports surged, though a slowdown in business investment may cast some clouds over the brighter economic picture.
Gross domestic product expanded at a 2.9 percent annualized pace from April to June, faster than a 1.4 percent increase in the first quarter of 2018, Statistics Canada said in a report Thursday from Ottawa. Exports jumped by an annualized 12.3 percent, the biggest quarterly gain since 2014.
Still, the numbers may be a slight disappointment as slowing business investment brought growth in below analyst forecasts -- a development that may also give the Bank of Canada pause about speeding up interest-rate hikes.
Economists surveyed by Bloomberg News had anticipated a 3.1 percent advance in the second quarter, while the central bank had been forecasting a 2.8 percent gain.
Gross business investment -- which had been on a run of late -- was up an annualized 1.5 percent pace in the second quarter, the slowest since the end of 2016.
Gross fixed capital formation -- which includes government investment -- grew by an annualized 0.9 percent, which is below economist expectations for growth of closer to 4 percent. Growth in non-residential structures, machinery and equipment slowed to 1.9 percent from 11.4 percent in the first quarter.
Exports were a big positive and the largest contributor to growth, confirming the sector has stepped onto much more solid footing after struggling for years following the 2008-2009 recession.
Consumer spending rebounded from a tough start to the year, accelerating at a 2.6 percent pace in the second quarter, slightly faster than economists predicted. This suggests households are overcoming concerns that had been weighing on spending -- in particular whether the country was in store for a sharp housing slowdown.
A correction in housing didn’t materialize however and investment in residential structures rebounded in the second quarter following a sharp decline in the first three months of the year.
One negative in the consumption numbers may be that the increased spending was financed by a lower household savings rate.
On a monthly basis, GDP in June was unchanged from May, weighed down by a major power outage at a key facility of Suncor Energy Inc., Canada’s largest oil producer by market value.
--With assistance from Erik Hertzberg.
To contact the reporter on this story: Theophilos Argitis in Ottawa at targitis@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Theophilos Argitis at targitis@bloomberg.net, Greg Quinn
©2018 Bloomberg L.P.