The economy grew at an annualized rate of 3.1 percent in the first quarter, helped by business investment and household spending, Statistics Canada said Tuesday.
The result was down from an annualized rate of 6.6 percent in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Statistics Canada said the change came as export volumes dropped 2.4 percent for the quarter, following two consecutive quarterly increases.
Paul Ashworth, chief North American economist at Capital Economics, said the growth for the first three months of the year was well below the consensus estimate, but broadly in line with the Bank of Canada’s April monetary policy report.
“The unexpected weakness in first-quarter GDP growth was principally due to a downward revision to the January data, which now shows a 0.2 percent month over month decline, as the Omicron-related restrictions had a bigger impact than previously thought,” Ashworth wrote in a report….