"After many months of floundering growth, the Canadian economy sparked back to life in November"
- KOF Swiss Economic Institute
Canadian economy picked up some steam in November, beating analysts' expectations, mostly, due to the rebound in the manufacturing sector. Gross domestic product expanded by 0.3% in November, an uptick from the 0.1% gain the previous month, posting its strongest growth in more than half a year. At the same time, manufacturing sector added 0.7%, while service sector expanded by 0.1%. On a yearly basis, the economy grew by 1.3% after a 1.1% expansion in the prior month. Despite a stronger-than-expected growth, the economy will most likely not reach a 2% growth target expected by forecasters for all of 2012. It would be also difficult to achieve a 1% growth in the final quarter of 2012 as well.
"After many months of floundering growth, the Canadian economy sparked back to life in November," said Emanuella Enenajor, economist at CIBC World Markets, in a note. "Overall, an upbeat report suggesting that economic activity picked up from its fall doldrums, although still lagging potential output growth."
"A key question is whether we are seeing a turnaround in manufacturing that could sustain stronger growth or just a monthly blip that will leave our economy treading water," said economist Erin Weir, president of the Progressive Economics Forum.
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