Canada’s Gross Domestic Product increased 0.1 percent in August, driven mainly by growth in the services product sectors, the public body Statistics Canada (EC) appeared at the end of October.
The figures show a behavior similar to that reported in the previous two months and point to a stagnation of the country’s economy, which is reinforced by other preliminary data that indicate a growth of 0.1 percent in September.
According to the published report, the service-producing sectors grew 0.3 percent in August while those that generated goods fell 0.3 percent.
Meanwhile, the activity of the retail trade sector increased by 1.2 percent, “a considerable growth since in July, its activity fell to levels equivalent to those of December 2021,” the EC said.
On the other hand, sales at gas stations in the country grew 6.9 percent after three consecutive months of falls, due to a 9.6 percent drop in the price of gasoline.
This week, the Bank of Canada noted that it expects economic growth to stall by the end of the year and in the first half of 2023, as the effects of high interest rates ripple across the Canadian economy.
It estimated that GDP will grow 3.4 percent this year but will slow to less than 1 percent in 2023 and 2 percent in 2024. Figures released by the EC point to those trends.
