1 May 2019

“After an increase at the start of the year, the growth slowed down in February, increasing the pressure on prices and almost entirely eliminating the possibility of a rate hike this year”, – noted Conference Board of Canada’s Principal Economist Alicia Macdonald.

The results coincide with the Conference Board’s latest forecast, predicting modest economic growth in the first quarter.

Among other sectors showing decreases finance and insurance were named with a 0.6% decline, offsetting gains of the previous two months.

Meanwhile, the construction grew by 0.2%. It’s the second hike after seven drops in a row. The tendency shift was supported by gains in residential and industrial building activities.

Housing and rental were down by 0.2%, marking the first decline since February 2018. One of the main reasons for that were lower activities at offices of real estate agents and brokers (down by 6.6%). It’s the fourth decrease in five months, caused by weaker housing resale activity in Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia.

In February, retail sales went up, showing the biggest growth since May 2018. However, the gain was not enough to offset the large drop, seen in January. It means the growth in consumer purchases of goods will stay modest in Q1.