Canada's economy grows 4.6 percent in 2021: report

Canada's economy grew 4.6 percent in 2021, compared with a decline of 5.2 percent in 2020, the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic, Statistics Canada said Tuesday.

Gross domestic product (GDP) growth in the fourth quarter of 2021 reached an annualized rate of 6.7 percent and in an early estimate the economy grew by 0.2 percent in January 2022, according to Statistics Canada.

Statistics Canada said the largest contributor to economic growth last year was household spending and residential construction as new home construction, resales and renovations increased at near-record levels.

The stronger end to 2021 and surprising growth to start 2022 means that the first quarter and "this year as a whole will be stronger than we had previously expected," CIBC economist Andrew Grantham commented in a report.

"There's plenty of justification in today's data for a series of rate hikes from the Bank of Canada, starting tomorrow," he said.