Canada’s economic growth slowed in the second quarter due to reduced household spending and an uptick in the country’s trade deficit. Statistics Canada announced Tuesday that GDP growth had slowed to two per cent from the 5.8 per cent growth registered in the first quarter. The lower-than-expected growth figures—analysts predicted Canada’s GDP would grow at a 2.5 per cent clip—is expected to ease the pressure on Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney to raise interest rates. “Momentum in growth has waned,” Derek Holt, an economist at Bank of Nova Scotia’s Scotia Capital unit told Bloomberg, “but the report still signals a domestic economy that is in fairly good shape.”
FILED UNDER: economy
