OTTAWA: Canada’s gross domestic product shrank by 0.1 per cent in January, a weak showing, but better than what economists had been expecting.
Statistics Canada the service sector declined by 0.3 per cent even as the goods-producing industry rose by 0.3 per cent.
After shrinking in December, oil and gas production actually increased 2.6 per cent in January as Canada’s oil producers kept pumping oil despite low prices.
Scratching under the surface, not all is well in the oil and gas segment (of course),” Scotiabank said in a research note after the data came out. “Support activities for mining, oil and gas fell by two per cent month over month [and] activity in traditional oil and gas extraction fell.”
All the growth came from non-conventional oil and gas extraction (such as oilsands oil), which can be more volatile.
