According to a Bloomberg report, Canada's central bank's latest estimates show that the country grew at an annualized pace of nearly 4 percent in the first quarter of 2017. In fact, this strong pace of growth is unseen among the remaining six countries, which make up the G-7 group.
The Bank of Canada also projected that the country will end 2017 with a growth rate of 2.6 percent. While this would signal a slowdown from the first quarter it nevertheless represents a strong growth rate for the resource-rich country that has struggled over the years amid low oil prices.
Don't Rush To Invest In Canada Just Yet
But after 2017, the Bank of Canada isn't overly optimistic. The central bank said that while it "welcomes the recent strength" in economic data, it needs to "see more of it in order to be more confident that growth is on a solid footing."
A prior Bloomberg report also suggested that rising interest rates in the United States will also hurt the Canadian dollar.
There are also three factors which point a less-than-perfect picture for Canada's economic growth over the near term. First, while energy prices are showing signs of stabilizing, it isn't showing signs of growth. Second, an increase in government transfers is helping household spending but the impacts can't last, and third, housing activity in the uber-hot Toronto region will eventually slow.
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