Factory Increase
Manufacturing increased 0.8 percent, led by a 13 percent surge in motor vehicle production. The rise in car output, the fastest since January 2011, follows maintenance shutdowns at some plants in April, Statistics Canada said.
Wholesalers recorded a 1.2 percent jump in output in May, making the sector the second largest contributor of growth during the month. The expansion was broad-based, with goods-producing industries growing 0.5 percent and services-producing industries up 0.4 percent.
The central bank earlier this month cut its forecasts for Canada’s growth, to 2.2 percent from 2.3 percent for this year and to 2.4 percent from 2.5 percent next year, in part due to what it called “serial disappointment” in global growth.
The economy grew 2.3 percent in May from a year earlier.
Canada’s economy has emerged from a harsh winter that slowed orders and damped growth at the beginning of the year, giving little scope for the central bank to raise interest rates. The central bank has kept its key lending rate at 1 percent since September 2010, the longest pause since the 1950s.
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