Statistics
Canada announced on Friday that the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) was flat m-o-m in June after a downwardly
unrevised 0.1 per cent m-o-m gain (from +0.2 per cent m-o-m) in May. This was worse than economists’
forecast of a 0.1 per cent m-o-m uptick.
In the second
quarter of 2024, the Canadian GDP grew 0.5 per cent q-o-q, following
an unrevised 0.4 per cent q-o-q expansion
in the first quarter. This marked the strongest
quarterly advance in real GDP since the first quarter of 2023 (+0.6 per cent
q-o-q).
According to
the report, the GDP’s q-o-q increase reflected higher government final consumption expenditures, business investment
in engineering structures and machinery and equipment, and household spending
on services, which were moderated by decreases in exports, residential
construction and household spending on goods.
Expressed at an
annualized rate, Canada’s GDP expanded 2.1 per cent in the second quarter after
an upwardly revised 1.8 per cent increase (from +1.7 per cent) in the previous
quarter. This represented the strongest annual expansion since the first
quarter of 2023 (+2.6 per cent y-o-y) and was slightly above economists’ prediction
of a 1.6 per cent y-o-y advance.
Also,
Statistics Canada revealed that preliminary data indicates that real GDP
remained unchanged m-o-m in July.