Ottawa, Aug 31 (IANS): Canada's economy continued on a slow growth path in the second quarter of the year, according to Statistics Canada.

The country's real gross domestic product recorded a paltry 0.4 percent growth, Xinhua reported.

That was equivalent to a growth of 1.7 percent in an annualised rate.

Although the reading is lower than the first quarter's growth of 0.5 percent, which is 2.2 percent in an annualised rate, it is still higher than the economists' expectation of 1.6 percent.

The agency said Friday that investment in non-residential structures and machinery and equipment was down 0.6 percent, while outlays on intellectual property products declined 2.3 percent.

Exports edged up 0.2 percent in the second quarter, after increasing 1.3 percent in the previous quarter, with energy products, farm, fishing and intermediate food products seeing notable decreases.

On the optimistic side, final domestic demand rose 0.6 percent in the second quarter, with household final consumption expenditure advancing 0.9 percent, and government final consumption expenditure up 0.6 percent, said the agency.