"Our outlook for the Canadian economy is a relatively rosy one, as we expect the pace of expansion to accelerate over the course of 2013 after the weakness experienced last year"
- Roberto Cardarelli from IMF
Wholesale in Canada dropped in the last month of 2012 more than initially expected, mainly due to lower sales of computers and communications equipment, such as mobile phones, indicating weak domestic demand. According to the Statistics Canada, Canadian wholesale trade shrank in December by a sharper-than-expected 0.9% on a reversal of the previous month's 0.7% gain. Analysts, however, expected only a 0.4% contraction. As retailers generally order more goods from wholesalers when they expect consumer sales to increase, a contraction in wholesales indicates uncertain economic future. In volume terms, wholesale sales were down 0.9% in the last month of 2012. At the same time sales of machinery, equipment and supplies subsector were down 4.1%, while the computers and communications equipment and supplies industry sank 8.6%.
"Our outlook for the Canadian economy is a relatively rosy one, as we expect the pace of expansion to accelerate over the course of 2013 after the weakness experienced last year—but we project lower average growth for 2013 as a result of weak economic activity at the end of 2012 carrying over to 2013," said Roberto Cardarelli from IMF.
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