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Canada’s economy began 2019 with its largest output gain in eight months, an unexpected result that will ease worries the expansion has come to a halt.

Gross domestic product grew by 0.3 per cent in January, faster than the 0.1 per cent forecast in a Bloomberg survey of economists. The gains were broad-based outside of the energy sector, and included the biggest one-month increase in construction activity in more than five years. Manufacturing output also surged.

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The numbers paint a much less bleak picture for an economy that came to a near halt at the end of last year, with January GDP now putting growth on pace for a stronger first quarter than most economists are anticipating. The gains should also bolster confidence among officials at the Bank of Canada that growth will bounce back.

“Overall, a better than expected start to Q1 after a near zero growth rate in Q4, and reason enough for the Bank of Canada to hang on to its hopes that the growth stall late last year will prove temporary,” Avery Shenfeld, chief economist at CIBC Capital Markets, said in a note to investors.