OTTAWA: The Canadian economy ended a strong year with 1.7 per cent annualized growth over the final three months of 2017. For the full year, Statistics Canada says the economy grew three per cent, the fastest pace since 2011 and significantly above 2016’s growth of 1.4 per cent.
But economic growth geared down in the second half of last year after clocking in at an average 3.6 per cent rate between July of 2016 and June of 2017.
The report says fourth-quarter growth was driven by a 2.3 per cent increase in business investment compared with the third quarter, and a 0.5 per cent quarter-over-quarter increase in household spending.
For all of 2017, StatCan says household spending easily made the biggest contribution to growth, followed by inventory and business investment. It also says Canada’s exports grew for the second-straight year with gains in both goods and services.
