Canadian GDP for August: It’s not all bad news
Canada’s real GDP grew by 0.1% in August, led by gains in services, with the advanced estimate for September showing yet another modest gain (0.1%). Taken together, real GDP is growing at an annualized pace of 1.6% in 2022Q3. This is roughly half the pace of the previous quarter, which shows that Canada’s economy is clearly slowing down in the second half of the year. However, despite all the recession worries, growth remains in positive territory for now, although we expect things to be even weaker in the fourth quarter.
Stephen Tapp, Chief Economist, Canadian Chamber of Commerce
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Canada’s real gross domestic product (GDP) grew by 0.1% in August, led by services sectors. This result was a slight improvement on the initial advanced estimate for essentially flat growth.
- StatCan’s advanced estimate for September shows another modest increase of 0.1%. These estimates put real GDP growth on pace for an annualized 1.6% in 2022Q3. This pace is inline with the Bank of Canada’s forecast released earlier this week. These numbers show that overall economic growth in Canada is slowing in the second half of the year, and growth expected to be even slower in the fourth quarter.
- Output rose in August in 14 of 20 sectors. Services sectorsled the wayrising by 0.3%,while goods were down 0.3% due to declines in manufacturing, oil and gas extraction, and construction.
- The biggest movers on the month were:
- Agriculture (+3.9%) was led by an increased crop production, as wheat and other grains have benefitted from improved growing conditions in Western Canada this summer.
- Utilities (1.5%) rose thanks to gains in electric power generation and natural gas distribution.
- Retail trade (+1.2%) and wholesale trade (+0.9%) both performed well.
- Construction (-0.7%) fell for the fifth month in a row. All components have weakened, from engineering to residential, non-residential, and repairs.
- Manufacturing (-0.8%) had its fourth decline in five months falling to the lowest output level since January 2022.
- Agriculture (+3.9%) was led by an increased crop production, as wheat and other grains have benefitted from improved growing conditions in Western Canada this summer.
SUMMARY TABLES
Related Blogs
2022 Q3 Canadian Survey on Business Conditions: Inflation is the top issue. Labour pains intensifying, but price pressures and supply chains issues are improving
According to the latest CSBC survey, Canadian businesses continue to see inflation as their biggest near-term obstacle. A whopping 60% of firms expect inflation to be a challenge, the highest response rate in the history of the survey.
Time to put reports into action, Chamber tells House Agriculture Committee
On February 17, 2022 the Canadian Chamber’s Senior Director, Transportation, Infrastructure & Regulatory Policy, Robin Guy, appeared at the House...
Submission for the Pre-Budget Consultations in Advance of the Upcoming Federal Budget
The Canadian Chamber of Commerce, on behalf of our roader membership of 200,000 Canadian businesses, has submitted our pre-budget recommendations to the federal government.
