According to Statistics Canada, the nation’s GDP isn’t showing signs of growing. Despite federal spending and a new budget, the first financial quarter of 2019 reported a meager 0.1% GDP growth since last year.
The growth remains unchanged since the fourth and final financial quarter of 2018.
“Growth in real GDP was driven by a 0.9% increase in household spending and an 8.7% rise in business investment in machinery and equipment. These increases were moderated by a 1.0% decline in exports, coupled with a 1.9% increase in imports. Additionally, investment in housing continued to decline, down 1.6% in the first quarter,” claims a report by Statistics Canada.
The plateau in GDP comes after a lengthy period of high GDP growth dating back to 2016.
Some other notable facts about Canada’s economy heading into 2019:
- Household spending has gone up
- Investments in housing has gone down
- Exports of Canadian goods are down 1.0 percent
- Imports are up 1.9 percent
While the GDP has plateaued overall Canada’s economy has grown, driven largely by household spending and business investment.