Canada’s GDP Expected to Beat US in Q1

It’s not much of a consolation, but Canada’s plodding economy looks like it outperformed the U.S. in the first quarter.

Figures due out Friday are expected to show that U.S. gross domestic product shrunk at an annual rate of as much as 0.5 per cent in the first quarter.

Forecasts suggest Canadian GDP, on the other hand, grew 1.7 per cent – still positive, but a dramatic slowdown from the 2.9 per cent pace of the final three months of 2013. That report is also due out Friday.

The big story in both countries was the cold and stormy winter weather, which affected everything from home building to consumer spending and exports.

The rest of the year is likely to be better, but nowhere near the near-3-per-cent pace of the final quarter of last year. And few economists expect Canada to grow faster than the U.S. through the rest of the year.

via The Globe and Mail

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