Canadians made more headway paying down what they owe in October than in previous months, according to figures released this morning by RBC Economics.
The country's biggest bank reported that Canadian household credit growth resumed its decelerating trend in October with the year-over-year rate of increase in balances outstanding slowing to 3.7% from 3.8% in September. This annual pace of expansion in personal debt represented a slowing from the 5.4% increase recorded in October 2012 and marked the slowest rate of accumulation since July 1983.
The bank also says "total business financing outstanding expanded by 7.3% on a year-over-year basis in October, down from the 7.6% rate in the previous month.
"The measure, however," the bank concludes, "remains elevated relative to the longer-term average of 5.4%."
