Canadian economy grows fastest in 3 years

Tavia Grant of the Globe and Mail reported that the Canadian economy began the year with a bang, expanding the most in three years as manufacturing, mining and construction activity quickened. The country's gross domestic product, the broadest measure of all produced goods and services, rose by a better-than-expected 0.6 per cent in January on widespread gains, Statistics Canada said Wednesday. It was the fastest growth since December, 2006, the fifth month in a row of increases, and the latest in a string of economic reports to top expectations. The Bank of Canada said earlier this month the economy has been hotter than it had anticipated, putting additional pressure on the central bank to begin hiking interest rates in the coming months. “Barring some major unexpected economic shock, it is hard to imagine the Bank of Canada raising rates any later than July, and it must be conceded that June is at least theoretically possible,” said Eric Lascelles, chief macro strategist for Canada at TD Securities.