Canada’s economy posts 1.7% annual growth in fourth quarter, caps year at 3%

The Canadian economy expanded at an annual pace of 1.7 per cent in the final months of 2017 as the more rapid growth seen earlier in the year faded further away, Statistics Canada reported Friday.

The agency’s latest numbers for real gross domestic product showed the economy grew three per cent for all of 2017 — a much-stronger pace compared with 2016 when growth was 1.4 per cent.

Growth in the fourth quarter was driven by a 2.3 per cent increase in business investment compared with the third quarter, and a 0.5 per cent quarter-over-quarter rise in household spending, the report said.

Craig Alexander, chief economist for the Conference Board of Canada, said the country had the strongest growth in the G7 last year, but lost momentum and is now entering 2018 on a soft note at an increasingly uncertain time.