Canada’s economy grew at a much faster pace than expected in the third quarter as crude oil exports and government spending boosted economic activity, data shows, even as business investments and household consumption disappointed due to the lingering uncertainty over United States tariffs.Third-quarter annualised gross domestic product (GDP) grew 2.6 percent, Statistics Canada said on Friday, escaping what could have been a technical recession after a contraction in the previous quarter of a downwardly revised 1.8 percent.Recommended Stories list of 4 itemsend of listThe data strengthened economists’ view that the Bank of Canada will not cut interest rates on December 10.The quarterly GDP reading is calculated based on income and expenditure, unlike the monthly GDP, which is derived from industrial output.The statistics agency said the third-quarter number could be subjected to a larger-than-normal revision in February because foreign merchandise trade data was not available due to the recent US government shutdown.Analysts polled by the Reuters news agency had forecast annualised growth of 0.5 percent in the third quarter and monthly GDP growth of 0.2 percent in September.On a month-over-month basis, the economy matched analysts’ predictions following a deceleration of an upwardly revised 0.1 percent in the prior month, StatsCan said, primarily driven by a 1.6 percent expansion in manufacturing output.However, an advance estimate showed GDP might decline by 0. …
