Canada’s economy kept growing in the first quarter of the year, according to an early look at the data, as the country seems to be staving off the start of a possible recession.
Canada’s gross domestic product — the closely watched metric to gauge the health of the national economy — grew by 0.6 per cent in the first quarter of 2023, according to a flash estimate from Statistics Canada released Friday. At an annualized rate, that works out to 2.5 per cent.
The agency said GDP grew 0.1 per cent in February, down from initial expectations it would rise 0.3 per cent.
Early estimates are expecting GDP ticked down 0.1 per cent in March.
Statistics Canada will update both the March and first quarter GDP figures with its official report for the periods on May 31.
But these early estimates suggest Canada’s economy rebounded from what was an essentially “flat” quarter for GDP growth to end 2022.
The stronger economic results come as economists and market watchers warn of a possible recession on the horizon for Canada, typically defined as two or more consecutive quarters of negative GDP growth.
The Bank of Canada, which raised interest rates rapidly over much of the last year in an effort to cool the economy and tame high inflation, has warned the country might be set for a couple quarters of negative growth in 2023.
— with files from The Canadian Press
