Canadian economy grows 1.8 pct in Q2, beating forecasts

Aug 31 (Reuters) - Canada's economy grew at an annualized 1.8 percent in the second quarter, matching the rate of the previous quarter, as strong business investment offset a small fiscal drag, Statistics Canada said on Friday.

Business investment in plant and equipment advanced at a non-annualized rate of 2.3 percent, the fastest pace since the second quarter of 2011, and inventories also grew.

On a monthly basis, Canada's economy grew by a larger-than-expected 0.2 percent in June from May, as goods production rose on strong mining and oil and gas extraction.

Following are seasonally adjusted figures for gross domestic product, in percent. With the exception of the price index data, they are adjusted for inflation.

Q2 2012 Q1 2012 Q4 2011 Annualized change +1.8 +1.8 +1.9 Change from previous quarter +0.5 +0.5 +0.5 Year-over-year change +2.5 +1.8 +2.2 Quarterly change in GDP implicit price index -0.3 0.0 +1.0

June May(rev) May(prev) June yr/yr Monthly GDP all industries +0.2 +0.1 +0.1 +2.4 NOTE: The median forecast of analysts in a Reuters poll was for 1.6 percent annualized growth in the second quarter and June GDP growth of 0.1 percent.