Canadian recession officially over: Statistics Canada

It’s official: Canada’s economic recession ended in the third quarter of this year, at least according to Statistics Canada.

The federal agency said that gross domestic product (GDP) grew by an annualized 0.4 per cent in the quarter, coming on the heels of a revised 3.1 per cent contraction in the previous three-month period, which had been the third quarterly decline in a row.

Business investment in machinery and equipment grew by 5.9 per cent in the third quarter, the agency said, following five quarters of decline, with purchases of motor vehicles and industrial machinery leading the surge.

“Final domestic demand was bolstered by a second consecutive quarterly gain in personal expenditures and the first expansion in business capital expenditure since the fourth quarter of 2007,” the agency continued. “Export and import volumes both increased after many quarters of decline.”

The third-quarter GDP figures compares to 2.8 per cent growth seen during the same period in the U.S.

Statistics Canada also noted that consumer spending on goods and services increased 0.8 per cent in the third quarter, the biggest increase since the fourth quarter of 2007.