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Canada’s GDP racked up 0.6 per cent growth in January, beating expectations and earning rave reviews from economists.

“Roaring start,” “most encouraging in recent memory”, “impressively rapid progress” and “flying start” were some of comments on the broad-based growth that is the strongest since July 2013.

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It’s not great news for anyone hoping for a rate cut when the Bank of Canada meets in April, but economists are still pretty dovish on the bank’s next move. Despite the pickup in the economy, some are not expecting any action on rates until well into 2017.

Here’s what the economists have to say about Canada’s GDP growth:

Douglas Porter, chief economist, BMO Economics Canadian real GDP rose by a whopping 0.6% in January, double consensus expectations of a solid 0.3% advance and the biggest monthly gain in almost five years. Moreover, the huge gain follows decent growth in the two prior months, so it’s not a fluky rebound-type bounce, and the gains were spread across many industries and sectors, so it’s not due to a special factor. Suddenly, the Canadian economy has managed to post a rip-roaring annualized growth rate of 5% over the past three months (and who could have believed earlier this year that the phrases “Canadian economy” and “rip-roaring” would be seen in the same sentence?). Today’s release changes everything… well, at least it changes the tone of the debate on the Canadian near-term outlook. Analysts had been quietly marking up their forecasts in recent weeks on the surprisingly robust export data around the turn of the year, as well as on resilient consumers and housing markets. Today’s blow-out result will simply accelerate and accentuate that trend. With fiscal stimulus hurtling down the pike, suddenly 2% GDP growth for this year looks do-able, even with the drag from ongoing resource sector cutbacks. In that environment, the Bank of Canada is officially on ice, and the Canadian dollar no longer looks overdone at around 77 cents.

Nick Exarhos, CIBC Economics

Last year was a rough one for the Canadian economy, but 2016 is off to a roaring start. January monthly GDP increased by 0.6%, even stronger than our above-consensus 0.4% call. The surge in export volumes, and the advance report on manufacturing, had us looking for a solid contribution from factory output. And they delivered, as manufacturing added 2 ticks to the overall GDP tally. The monthly gain in January now has us looking for a Q1 growth pace in the order of 2.5% to 3%, even accounting some give back in February.

Brian DePratto, TD Economics

Today’s monthly GDP report is perhaps the most encouraging in recent memory. Strength was broad-based, with nearly all major industries growing in January. Indeed, many strong monthly growth figures in recent history were the result of one off factors, or snap-backs following contractions. In contrast, January’s strong performance follows three prior months of expansion, with special factors playing a smaller role. The brighter near-term outlook will likely be reflected in the Bank of Canada’s next Monetary Policy Report, to be published on April 13th. … Despite the more positive outlook, we do not expect any policy interest rate action from the Bank of Canada until well into 2017. With the Canadian growth rotation just getting underway and long-term inflationary pressures appearing muted, the Bank of Canada will likely want to keep its foot on the accelerator for as long as possible to support the rotation process.

Derek Holt, Vice President, Scotiabank Economics

Wow. One word about sums up how the economy entered 2016. This is the strongest monthly growth reading since July 2013. It leaves Q1 growth tracking at 3.7%% q/q at an annualized and seasonally adjusted pace assuming flat readings in February and March in order to focus upon the effects of what we know by way of the Q4 hand-off and the January reading. The economy is in fine shape overall. It has grown for four consecutive months after a dip in September that was partly attributable to temporary production disruptions, and it has grown for six of the past seven months following very mild contractions over 2015H1. Recession this is not and not by any yardstick.

Bill Adams, senior international economist at PNC Financial Services Group

Canadian real GDP surprised to the upside in January, echoing upbeat data from the United States’ other oil-dependent neighbour, Mexico. The Canadian economy is making impressively rapid progress in transitioning to growth led by non-resource sectors. These data support our call that the Bank of Canada’s next move is more likely a rate hike than a cut.

Krishen Rangasamy, Senior Economist National Bank

Canada had a flying start to 2016 as momentum from late last year carried over to this year. Even more encouraging is the fact that gains were broad-based with just a handful of sectors seeing small declines in output. The goods sector got an expected lift from the manufacturing sector (courtesy of better exports) and the return of cooler temperatures which lifted utilities output. Sinking oil prices ─ recall that WCS prices fell as low as $13/barrel in January ─ may also have forced energy producers to pump to the max to generate cash flow. The continued expansion of the services sector is also impressive. The good handoff from last year and excellent start to 2016 point to a strong Q1. Even assuming no change in February and March (and no revisions to prior months), GDP growth in the first quarter is tracking above 3% annualized, more than triple what the Bank of Canada had estimated for the quarter. But that pace is unlikely to be sustained given the apparent moderation of growth in the US (the main destination of Canada’s exports). Our recently upgraded forecast of 1.3% for 2016 Canadian GDP growth assumes a significant deceleration in the second quarter after a hot Q1. The stronger-than-expected Q1 coupled with the new fiscal stimulus announced in the budget recently, will likely lead to GDP upgrades for 2016 in the Bank of Canada’s upcoming Monetary Policy Report, significantly reducing odds of further monetary easing by the central bank.