Canada: Real GDP increased 0.5% in March, following no change in February

"Real gross domestic product (GDP) increased 0.5% in March, following no change in February. Growth was widespread across goods-producing and service-producing industries," said the Statistics Canada on Wednesday.

Key highlights:

• Growth was led by final domestic demand (+1.2%) while exports edged down.

• Household final consumption expenditure rose 1.1% following a 0.7% gain the previous quarter. Outlays on goods grew 1.5% as purchase of vehicles increased 2.3%. Outlays on services (+0.7%) also rose.

• Business gross fixed capital formation rose 2.9% following declines in eight of the previous nine quarters. Growth was driven by housing investment (+3.7%) and investment in machinery and equipment (+5.8%).

• Exports edged down 0.1% as services decreased 0.5%. Exports of goods were unchanged.

• Imports of goods and services increased 3.3%, in tandem with strength in final domestic demand. This followed a 3.0% decline in imports the previous quarter.

• Expressed at an annualized rate, real GDP rose 3.7% in the first quarter. In comparison, real GDP in the United States grew 1.2%.