Canada’s economy shrinks slightly less than anticipated in July

Statistics Canada announced on Friday that the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) fell 0.1 percent m-o-m in July, following a revised 0.6 percent m-o-m advance in June (originally a 0.7 percent m-o-m growth).

This was slightly better than economists' forecast for a 0.2 percent m-o-m decline. Total economic activity was approximately 2 percent below its pre-pandemic level.

In y-o-y terms, the Canadian GDP grew 4.7 percent in July.

According to the report, a decrease in goods-producing industries (-1.4 percent m-o-m) in July more than offset an advance in services-producing industries (+0.4 percent m-o-m).

Overall, 13 of the 20 industrial sectors were up, led by a second solid monthly advance in the accommodation and food services sector (+12.5 percent m-o-m). These gains, however, were more than offset by declines in agriculture (-5.5 percent m-o-m), utilities (-4.9 percent m-o-m), manufacturing (-1.1 percent m-o-m), and wholesale trade (-1.9 percent m-o-m).

It was also reported that preliminary data indicates an approximate 0.7 percent m-o-m advance in real GDP for August.