Statistics Canada announced on Friday that the country's gross domestic product (GDP) grew 0.3 percent m-o-m in December, following a 0.1 percent m-o-m advance in November.

That exceeded economists' forecast for a gain of 0.1 percent m-o-m.

In the fourth quarter of 2019, the Canadian GDP rose 0.1 percent q-o-q, following a 0.3 percent q-o-q climb in the third quarter.

According to the report, the q-o-q slowdown in Canada's GDP growth in the fourth quarter was attributable to the decreases in business investment and weak international trade, which, however, were offset by increased household spending. Final domestic demand edged up 0.2 percent q-o-q, after rising 0.8 percent q-o-qin the third quarter.

Expressed at an annualized rate, Canada's GDP grew 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter after a revised 1.1 percent climb in the previous quarter (originally 1.3 percent), matching economists' forecast.

In 2019, annual growth rate of Canada's real GDP was 1.6 percent, a deceleration from the 2.0 percent growth in 2018. The slowdown in annual growth was largely due to weaker international trade and investment declines, the report said.