Canadian economy gets big boost in last fiscal year with 4.6% GDP growth

Reports suggested that GDP growth of 4.6% is the highest in last 17 years for Canada.

The GDP growth in May is the seventh consecutive monthly gain.

According to Statistics Canada, January and May were the months where the Canadian economy saw the maximum growth, while February witnessed the lowest.

In January and May, GDP expanded by 0.6%. However, the lowest growth of 0.1% was registered in the month of February.

According to the statistics report, growth was seen in goods producing industries, service sectors, oil and gas extraction and manufacturing.

Goods producing industries outshined the service sectors in terms of growth. While the former registered a jump of 1.6%, the latter increased only 0.2%.

Growth was huge in oil and gas extraction with 7.1% countering the increase of 1.1% in manufacturing sectors.

However, outputs in construction, real estate, leasing has gone down.

Construction faced a slump of 0.6%. Despite the downgrade, the sector is reported to recover well particularly after the strike in Quebec.

Real estate, rental and leasing shrank by 0.2%.

Bank of Montreal economist Doug Porter was quoted by CBC News: "The big surprise was a massive 13 per cent snapback in ... oilsands, which alone accounted for half of the rise in GDP."

(Reporting by Souvik Ghosh)

Image: Creative Commons.