OTTAWA, Aug. 31 (Xinhua) -- Canada's economy rose at an annual pace of 1.8 percent in the second quarter this year, Statistics Canada said on Friday.
The result matched the pace of the two previous quarters and was slightly better than economists' expectation.
According to Statistics Canada, business investment advanced 2. 3 percent, the fastest pace since the second quarter of 2011. However, housing investment decelerated to 0.4 percent from 2.7 percent in the previous quarter.
Meanwhile, exports slowed to 0.2 percent from 1.0 percent in the first quarter. In contrast, imports rose 1.6 percent, up from the previous 1.3 percent rise.
Consumer spending on goods and services grew 0.3 percent in the second quarter, and final domestic demand increased by 0.4 percent, both similar as the last readings.
"While the growth is modest, it reinforces that Canada is on the right economic track compared to other countries," said Canadian Finance Minister Jim Flaherty.
Buoyed by the stronger GDP growth, the Canadian dollar rose by 0.67 cents Friday, closing at 1.0145 U.S. dollars. It traded as high as 1.0150 U.S. dollars in the morning.
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