The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that the Canadian economy is nearing a soft landing as it resumed growth in the final months of 2023, allowing the country to skirt a recession in what was otherwise a sluggish year. The Globe's Matt Lundy writes that real gross domestic product rose at an annualized pace of 1 per cent in the fourth quarter, Statistics Canada said Thursday, outpacing analyst estimates of 0.8 per cent. The economy rebounded from a 0.5-per-cent slide in the July-to-September period, thus avoiding two consecutive quarters of decline, what some economists refer to as a technical recession. It also appears that 2024 is getting off to a healthy start. In a preliminary estimate, Statscan said real GDP jumped 0.4 per cent in January. The economy has slowed since the Bank of Canada implemented a series of interest-rate increases to curb demand and bring inflation under control. Recent economic growth is proving stronger than BoC projections. "In our view, this will keep the BoC erring slightly on the hawkish side and wait for more evidence that inflation pressures are moderating enough," Citibank economists Gisela Hoxha and Veronica Clark said in a report. They expect a first rate cut in July.