The Toronto skyline in Canada

Canada GDP January 2019

Canada: Economic activity rebounds in January

Confounding analysts’ expectations, the economy grew 0.3% month-on-month in January, following December’s 0.1% month-on-month contraction. According to Statistics Canada, 18 out of the 20 industrial sectors posted gains over the previous month, as improvements in the construction and manufacturing sectors more than offset a fifth consecutive monthly decline in the mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction sector.

On an annual basis, growth ticked up to 1.6% in January from 1.1% in the previous month, while annual average growth inched down to 1.9% from 2.0% in December.

Dissecting January’s print, Benoit P. Durocher, a senior economist at Desjardins, noted that:

“Real GDP growth by industry exceeded our expectations for January. The widespread increases in various sectors suggest that Canada’s economy is gaining strength after several difficult months. Some risks remain, however, such as adjustments to domestic demand at higher interest rates, which could further trim production growth in the coming months. The carryover for the first quarter (assuming no changes in real GDP by industry in February and March) is higher than we expected, at close to 1% (annualized). We therefore have to increase our forecast for the first quarter to nearly 1.2%, instead of the 0.5% initially expected.”

Canada GDP Forecast

Free sample report

Access essential information in the shortest time possible. FocusEconomics provide hundreds of consensus forecast reports from the most reputable economic research authorities in the world.
Close Left Media Arrows Left Media Circles Right Media Arrows Right Media Circles Arrow Quote Wave Address Email Telephone Man in front of screen with line chart Document with bar chart and magnifying glass Application window with bar chart Target with arrow Line Chart Stopwatch Globe with arrows Document with bar chart in front of screen Bar chart with magnifying glass and dollar sign Lightbulb Document with bookmark Laptop with download icon Calendar Icon Nav Menu Arrow Arrow Right Long Icon Arrow Right Icon Chevron Right Icon Chevron Left Icon Briefcase Icon Linkedin In Icon Full Linkedin Icon Filter Facebook Linkedin Twitter Pinterest