OTTAWA (Reuters). — Canada’s retail sales were up in April on a monthly basis but were below estimates, data showed on Friday, as the momentum seen in the previous months when customers advanced purchases to beat the impact of tariffs continued.
Retail sales in April grew by 0.3 percent to C$70.11 billion ($51.11 billion) from 0.8 percent observed in the month earlier, Statistics Canada said, adding sales grew in six of the nine subsectors.
An advanced estimate of sales shows that the number is likely to contract by 1.1 percent in May.
“Canadian consumers continued to spend in April, but a decline in the May advance estimate for retail sales provides another indication that the economy is heading for a stall in Q2,” Andrew Grantham, senior economist at CIBC Capital Markets wrote in a note.
Retail sales are closely watched by economists and analysts as they give an indication of the trend of the GDP. They had been largely increasing in the previous months as uncertainty around the timing and magnitude of tariffs brought forward purchases.
The sales have started showing signs of decline as tariffs have come into effect and analysts expect that they are likely to go down in the coming months.
