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“After boasting a relatively strong economic performance over the past several years, Canada’s economy hit a speed bump in late 2012,” he said.

“That said, financial conditions continue to support growth. As confidence recovers, business spending should accelerate, albeit at a less rapid pace than we saw in the early days of expansion.”

Canada’s economy ended 2012 with just 1.8% growth in gross domestic product, from an advance of 2.6% the previous year — a stinging climb down from what had been a boastful surge out of recession.

Like other major banks, RBC has whittled away at its growth forecasts for this year as 2012 crawled to the finish line.

RBC expects GDP growth of 1.8% for all of 2013, which is still at the top end of forecasts by other senior private-sector economists, who — along with Mr. Craig — recently submitted their revised outlooks to Finance Minister Jim Flaherty as part of his pre-budget consultations.

Some economists have pegged 2013 GDP growth as low as 1.5%. However, most are more optimistic about 2014, with estimates ranging from 2.3% to 2.9%.

Mr. Flaherty will release the government’s GDP outlook for this year and the near-term, along with its trajectory for eliminating the federal deficit by 2015, in Thursday’s budget.

Future growth will have to rely on resurgent exports and more business spending. Both the Finance Minister and the Bank of Canada have been cajoling corporate Canada to do just that, with central bank governor Mark Carney going as far as to criticize companies for sitting on piles of “dead money.”