By Jan-Anthony Hermoso @ Shutterstock.com
High rates of population growth have helped Canada turn in an impressive GDP growth rate of 3.7% in the second quarter. Paul Vieira and Kim Mackrael report for the Wall Street Journal:
BMO Capital Markets economist Doug Porter said one of the reasons Canada’s jobs market has been strong is the country’s growing population. The Canadian population expanded by more than 500,000 in 2018, largely because of immigration. Last year’s 1.4% increase was by far the fastest pace among the Group of Seven nations.
While that helps explain Canada’s strong jobs data, Mr. Porter says, it “does not detract from the broader picture that the Canadian economy is indeed showing impressive resilience in the face of the many global storm clouds.”
Canada’s gross domestic product expanded at a 3.7% annualized rate in the second-quarter, following a slowdown around the turn of the year. Still, economists don’t expect that level of growth to be maintained, and the Bank of Canada anticipates total growth of just 1.3% this year.
“We expect the global slowdown to take a more material bite” by the fourth quarter, CIBC World Markets economist Avery Shenfeld said. He said that could prompt the Bank of Canada to lower interest rates in late December or early next year.
Read more here.