The Canadian economy expanded at a 2.5 percent annualized rate in the first quarter. The outturn was better than consensus expectations and also somewhat better than the Bank of Canada (BoC) had forecast in its Monetary Policy Report in April. In the press release that accompanied its meeting this week the BoC noted that first quarter growth would likely come in ahead of its expectations, and it maintained its bias to eventually remove monetary policy support.
In our 2013 Canadian outlook report published in December, we described a number of economic challenges and argued that full year growth would come in at 2.1 percent with the BoC staying on
hold for the duration of the year. So after the better-than-expected first quarter growth numbers coming on the heels of upward revisions to fourth quarter figures, are we getting cold feet?
In this report we take a closer look at the GDP report, review the current monetary policy environment and revisit some of the challenges facing the Canadian economy. The dynamics which framed our thinking in December have not evolved in a way that causes us to make major revisions today.
Click here to read the full report: Market Research
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