Canada leading most countries in retail sales. Why is spending so high?
Global News
Canadian retail sales climbed 2.4 per cent in March compared with the same month a year earlier, outperforming most developed markets around the world, a new report shows.
Retail sales growth in Canada is continuing to outperform much of the world so far this year, a sign of the ongoing resiliency of Canadian shoppers despite higher inflation and recession predictions, a new report has found.
The Colliers 2023 Retail Outlook said consumers are still spending, even though retail sales have cooled slightly from last year when prices spiked and interest rates began their meteoric ascent.
Canadian retail sales climbed 2.4 per cent in March compared with the same month a year earlier, outperforming most developed markets around the world, the Colliers report noted.
In comparison, U.S. retail sales edged up only 1.6 per cent while dropping in the U.K., France and Germany, the report said.
Still, new retail sales figures to be released by Statistics Canada this week could show signs of softening consumer spending and demand as borrowing costs rise and the labour market weakens, economists predict.
“Consumer spending was surprisingly resilient early in 2023, with a 5.7 per cent annualized increase in the first quarter,” Royal Bank of Canada assistant chief economist Nathan Janzen and economist Carrie Freestone said in a client note on Friday.
Yet much of that boost came from strong spending in January, and more recent monthly readings have been softer, they said.
“We continue to expect spending to flag over the second half of this year, even with surprising resilience year-to-date,” they said.