Canada's economic growth records fastest pace in 1.5 years

Canada's real gross domestic product (GDP), driven by goods exports, expanded 0.6 percent in the first quarter of 2013, the fastest pace in one and a half years, Statistics Canada announced here Friday. The pace, when expressed at an annualized rate, is 2.5 percent, higher than the United States' 2.4 percent, and is better than most economists' expectation. As the largest contributor to growth, exports saw a 1.5 percent increase, after a slight gain of 0.2 percent in the last quarter of last year and declines in the previous three quarters. Energy products, metal and non-metallic mineral products and consumer goods played main roles to the good reading. Their exports increased 5.1 percent, 5.9 percent and 4.6 percent respectively. In other aspects, "final domestic demand edged up 0.1 percent, the weakest showing since the first quarter of 2009." Consumer spending was up 0.2 percent, sustained by higher spending on services. Investment declined as business investment in residential construction fell 1.2 percent, with both new home construction and housing resale performed weak. Meanwhile, business investment in plant and equipment increased slightly by 0.2 percent, following a 1.3-percent up in the previous quarter.