Canada’s Economy Grew 0.1% in April as Services Expand

Canada’s gross domestic product grew for a fourth straight month in April as services expanded while goods output declined, government figures showed.

Output rose 0.1 percent to an annualized C$1.57 trillion ($1.50 trillion), Statistics Canada said today in Ottawa, matching the median forecast in a Bloomberg economist survey with 21 responses.

The gain marks the longest string of monthly expansions since September 2011, signaling a further revival from a slump in the second half of last year that was led by investment and exports. Further gains this quarter may be hampered after flooding in Alberta this month disrupted energy production and transportation.

Service-industry output rose 0.3 percent in April to an annualized C$1.10 trillion, while goods production fell 0.3 percent to C$473 billion, Statistics Canada said.

Finance and insurance and wholesaling led the gain within services as both categories advanced 0.6 percent.

Declines in goods production included a 1.5 percent drop in mining and oil and gas, and a 0.4 percent fall in construction.
The report’s mismatch between goods and services output follows comments this month by new Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz that exports and investment need to lead the expansion as indebted consumers and governments pull back.

From a year earlier, the economy grew 1.4 percent in April.

In a separate report, Statistics Canada said its index of raw-materials prices paid by manufacturers rose 0.2 percent in May from the month before. Economists in a Bloomberg survey had a median prediction of a 0.4 percent increase.
The industrial product price index was unchanged in May, while economists forecast the measure of prices received by manufacturers for their goods would rise 0.1 percent.

Bloomberg

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