Canada’s economy grew by 0.2% in November, matching Octobe’s rate of expansion, Statistics Canada said today.

Growth was concentrated in the retail trade, chiefly in sales of new motor vehicles, the federal agency said.

Construction and tourism-related business also contributed to the November growth.

On the down side, wholesalers and manufacturers of motor vehicles, as well as the forestry and electric generation sectors, experienced declines.

Between November 2005 and the same month in 2004, the economy grew by 3%.

BMO Nesbitt Burns senior economist David Watt said December economic growth is projected to come in higher than in November.

Watt said fourth-quarter economic growth is seen coming in at an annualized rate of 2.7%. He said that is not fast enough to add to capacity pressures on the economy.

“The result is consistent with the [Bank of Canada] hiking rates on March 7 and on April 25th,” he said, in a written commentary.