Canada’s economy returned to growth as consumers headed back to restaurants and entertainment venues, propelling spending on services.

Gross domestic product rose 0.7 per cent in August, Statistics Canada said in a flash estimate from Ottawa. That’s a reversal from July, which showed a 0.1 per cent contraction, according to the report.

Economists were predicting a 0.2 per cent drop in output for July, after early guidance indicating a weak start to the second half of the year. The agriculture and manufacturing sectors were among the contributors to the decline.

“Today’s GDP report provides a small tonic to the troubling results from a month ago,” Doug Porter, chief economist at Bank of Montreal, said in a report to investors. “The slightly smaller-than-expected setback in July and nice pop in August suggest that the economy managed to grind out some moderate growth in the summer quarter as a whole.”…read more.

New Zealand’s central bank is looking at the potential of creating a digital currency, with officials in a report Thursday saying such a project could foster further innovation in the country’s payments system.

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand sought public feedback on papers focusing on the future of money which included a proposed digitized currency at a time when the use of cash is declining.

“A Central Bank Digital Currency would see the features and benefits of cash enjoyed in the digital world, working alongside cash and private money held in commercial bank accounts,” RBNZ Assistant Governor Christian Hawkesby said in a statement.

The use of cash dropped to 19% of household transactions in 2019 from 30% in 2007, it said. Meanwhile, people have increasingly turned to phone-based payment apps and digital wallets as well as other new and private technologies that make transactions more convenient. The RBNZ named Apple Pay as an example of a tool for transactions…read more.