By Promit Mukherjee
OTTAWA, Oct 30 (Reuters) – Canada’s economy stalled in August following no growth in the previous month as increases in retail, manufacturing and construction were largely offset by drop in activity in wholesale trade and public administration, data showed on Friday.
Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast the gross domestic product to increase by 0.2% in August, from 0% in July.
Here are the details:
– An advanced estimate by Statistics Canada showed the GDP is likely to contract by 0.1% in September, taking the annualized real growth by industry in the third quarter to 1.3%. This is mainly led by decreases in manufacturing and mining and quarrying and oil and gas extraction.
– This will be substantially lower than the Bank of Canada’s latest projections where it forecast Q3 annualized growth to be 2%.
– StatsCan said while the services sector declined in August, it was mostly compensated by rise in activity in the goods producing sector. The good-producing sectors contribute roughly a quarter of the gross domestic product.
– The services-producing industries declined by 0.1% led by a 1.4% drop in wholesale trade.
– The public sector aggregate which comprises educational services, health care and social assistance, and public administration fell 0.2% in August, its first decline in six months, StatsCan said.
The utilities sector contracted by 0.4% in August, data showed, driven by a 0.5% contraction in electric power generation, transmission and distribution.
– The drop in activity was offset by an increase in retail trade which grew by 1.2%, making up for the contraction observed in the prior month.
– The manufacturing sector grew at a pace of 0.3% and the statistics agency said it was the sector’s fifth increase in seven months. The manufacturing sector is one of the most exposed sectors to US tariffs.
– The construction sector grew by 0.2% while mining, quarrying and oil and gas extraction was flat in the month.
(Reporting by Promit Mukherjee; Editing by Dale Smith)
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