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Bloomberg
Canadian consumers remained resilient in December, even in the face of elevated inflation and rising interest rates.
Receipts for retailers jumped 0.5% last month, according to an advance estimate released by Statistics Canada. That follows a 0.1% drop in November, which was led by lower sales of food and beverages, as well as building material and garden supplies.
The increase in December more than offsets the lower-than-expected losses in November and adds to a 1.3% gain in October, ending last year with relatively strong retail sales.
The data show household spending may be holding up better than expected in the fourth quarter, and point to a delayed start to what’s expected to be a consumption-led gearing down of economic growth. Economists see a technical recession in the first two quarters of this year.
The statistics agency didn’t provide details of the December number, which is based
on responses from 33.5% of
companies surveyed.
The median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists and the statistics agency’s own estimate called for a 0.5% decline in November sales. Excluding auto and parts, retail sales decreased 0.6%, in line with economist expectations. In volume terms, retail sales declined 0.4%.
In November, sales decreased in six of 11 subsectors, representing 47.4% of retail trade.