The Canadian economy contracted 0.1 per cent in January as weakness in the wholesale and retail trade sector offset surprising gains in oil and gas extraction. While January's reading on GDP growth showed some softness in the economy, it was actually better than expected and certainly far from the "atrocious" start to the year expected by the Bank of Canada. However, given available data for the remainder of the first quarter, the Canadian economy is tracking at only 0.5 per cent growth in real GDP, with risk of an outright contraction of the economy. That could be enough to spur further monetary stimulus, though financial markets have been recently betting that the Bank stays on hold for the remainder of the year.
Copyright BCREA - reprinted with permission
No comments:
Post a Comment