Toronto, June 1 (IANS) Posting the highest growth rate in more than a decade in annualised terms, Canada’s economy grew 6.1 percent in the first quarter of the current fiscal year.
With the highest growth among G8 countries, the Canadian economy has now almost reached levels seen before the global meltdown hit it in 2008.
In fact, the current rate makes the Canadian economic growth twice that of the US.
The swift economic recovery was fuelled by growth in all sectors, including housing, manufacturing, exports and household incomes and consumer spending.
Production grew faster in the first quarter of 2010 than in the fourth quarter of 2009, and inventory levels rose after being drawn down in all four quarters of 2009, said Statistics Canada in its quarterly report.
Housing investment increased for a fourth consecutive quarter, as did consumer spending on goods and services, the report said.
Export and import volumes also rose for a third consecutive quarter, with growth in imports outpacing growth in exports in the first quarter.
Profits at Canadian corporates rose by as much as 8.6 percent during the quarterly period.
Mining and oil and gas sectors, which are the main drivers of the Canadian economy, rose 2.7 percent, while manufacturing, which is the main employer in the country, was also up 1.8 percent.
During the global crisis, Canada was the best-performing economy among G8 nations, with its central bank – the Bank of Canada- and the federal government pumping in billions of dollars and holding interest rates to historic lows to stimulate economic activities.
Currently at $1.3 trillion, Canada is the tenth largest economy in the world.
A resource-based economy, it has the second largest reservoirs of oil and gas after Saudi Arabia.
