Canada Is the G-7’s Surprise Growth Leader, For Now

  • Central bank’s latest GDP forecast tops developed-world peers
  • Weak exports, business investment are flies in the ointment

An oil production facility in Conklin, Alberta, Canada.

Photographer: Brent Lewin/Bloomberg
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Almost out of nowhere, Canada has become one of the fastest growing economies in the developed world.

The oil-producing nation, which struggled mightily with falling crude prices the past two years, grew at an annualized pace of almost 4 percent in the first quarter, according to the Bank of Canada’s latest estimates. No other Group of Seven economy even came close.