Investing.com - The Canadian economy expanded in January, according to official data released on Friday.
Canada’s gross domestic product, or the broadest measure of goods and services produced in an economy, increased 0.3% in January from the previous month, Statistics Canada said.
The result beat economists’ expectations for a rise of 0.1%.
The data may give the Bank of Canada some pause about joining other central banks around the world in keeping interest rates on hold as slowing global growth and trade uncertainty weigh.
“Many central banks have acknowledged the building headwinds to growth and financial conditions have eased as a result,” the bank said in a press release on March 6, when it kept its overnight rate at 1.75%. The central bank also forecast that the economy during the first half of 2019 will be weaker than it first predicted, as the slowdown during the fourth quarter was worse than expected.