BLBG: Canada's Economy Expanded 0.3% in November on Factory Rebound
Canada’s gross domestic product expanded at the fastest pace in seven months in November on gains in manufacturing, mining and energy.
Output grew 0.3 percent to an annualized C$1.56 trillion ($1.56 trillion), Statistics Canada said today in Ottawa. The median forecast in a Bloomberg economist survey was for a 0.2 percent expansion in the month.
The report suggests growth rebounded in the fourth quarter from the 0.6 percent annual pace seen from July through September. The expansion has been supported by the job market, with the unemployment rate falling to a four-year low in December.
Manufacturing grew 0.7 percent in November, rebounding from a 0.9 percent decline the prior month. The mining, oil and gas category grew 0.8 percent.
Exxon Mobil Corp. and four partners said Jan. 4 they will spend about $14 billion to develop the Hebron oil field off Newfoundland, to produce more than 700 million barrels of crude during its lifespan.
Most other industries made little contribution to economic growth in November. Construction was little changed, Statistics Canada said, while retailing recorded a 0.6 percent gain as automobile receipts rose.
Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney said Jan. 23 an increase to his 1 percent benchmark interest rate is “less imminent” and cut his fourth-quarter growth prediction to 1 percent from 2.5 percent.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper said yesterday his Conservative government will make the economy and families his main focus in the session of parliament that opened this week. Speaking to party members, he said taxes “must remain low” and the expansion has benefited from strong gains in full-time private-sector employment.
Factory Prices
In a separate report, Statistics Canada said today its index of raw-materials prices paid by manufacturers dropped 2 percent in December from November. Economists in a Bloomberg survey had a median prediction of a 0.3 percent increase.
The industrial product price index, which measures what manufacturers receive for their goods, was unchanged in December, matching the median of economist forecasts.
Industrial prices rose 0.5 percent on average last year while raw materials costs fell an average 6.3 percent, Statistics Canada said, suggesting factory profit margins widened.
To contact the reporter on this story: Greg Quinn in Ottawa at gquinn1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Kevin Costelloe at kcostelloe@bloomberg.net; David Scanlan at dscanlan@bloomberg.net
