National growth might decelerate significantly come Q3 2019
Latest Statistics Canada economic data indicated that Canada is not as impervious to global turmoil as initially thought.
“It also reinforces the Bank of Canada’s decision on Wednesday to keep rates unchanged for the eighth consecutive meeting, though policy makers signaled they are leaving the door open for a rate cut in December,” BNN Bloomberg reported.
In the wake of a flat GDP reading in July, the national economy’s 0.1% August growth was slower than expert predictions of 0.2%, “reinforcing the view the nation’s economy is showing signs of decelerating into the second half of the year,” the report added.
Despite the languid pace, fully 14 of 20 sectors grew during the month. Manufacturing accounted for the bulk of the August expansion, going up by 0.5%.
However, the 3.7% annual growth observed during the second quarter might deteriorate during Q3, StatsCan warned.
Fortunately, Canada can still expect greater consumer purchasing power in the near future, with the addition of almost 54,000 jobs in September. This far outstripped earlier expert predictions of just 7,500 new jobs, and accompanied a decline of the national unemployment rate to a near-record low of 5.5%.
CIBC World Markets Inc. chief economist Avery Shenfeld argued that on the whole, the Canadian economy can maintain its robustness against fluctuations in global trade currents through its healthy workforce growth.
“Canada’s labour market seems to have been vaccinated against the global economic flu going around,” Shenfeld wrote in a mid-October investor note, as quoted by Bloomberg.
