Real gross domestic product (GDP) edged up 0.1% in October 2022 in Canada, after posting a slight increase of 0.2% in September, according to Statistics Canada.
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Growth was observed in service-producing industries with a 0.3% increase which offset the perceived decrease in goods-producing industries (-0.7%).
In particular, increases were recorded in 11 of the 20 sectors of activity in October.
Industries that deal directly with the public such as air travel (5.5%), entertainment and recreation (2.2%) and accommodation and food services (1%) performed well for this month of October.
“One would expect the combination of high inflation and high interest rates to hurt these industries, but they don’t seem to be feeling the pinch yet,” said Randall Bartlett, senior director of Canadian economics. at Desjardins.
This increase could be explained, among other things, by the increase in the number of games played by the Toronto Blue Jays and the late start of the National Hockey League (NHL) pre-season in September, according to Statistics Canada.
“Air transport (5.5%) recorded a marked increase in October to reach its highest level of activity since February 2020, before the COVID-19 pandemic, as domestic movements of air carriers continued to recover”, said the federal agency.
However, the level of activity remained nearly 34% lower in October compared to its pre-pandemic level.
Wholesale trade also jumped 1.3% for this month and hit its highest level since February 2022.
Conversely, the oil and gas extraction sector fell 2% in October due to lower oil sands extraction. Mining and quarrying also posted a decline of 0.7% for the same period.
The manufacturing sector suffered a 0.7% decline in October, the fourth decrease in six months.
“Preliminary information indicates that real GDP rose 0.1% in November. Increases in accommodation and food services and wholesale trade were partly offset by declines in construction as well as in mining, quarrying and stone extraction. oil and gas,” analyzed Statistics Canada.
“Today’s release, coupled with historic upward revisions, is in line with estimates for annualized Q4 real GDP growth of around 1.5%,” Bartlett added.
