Woolworths has got the competition watchdog’s go-ahead to buy an IGA supermarket in the Canberra suburb of Hawker.

The purchase would not result in a substantial weakening of competition among supermarkets in the area, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) ruled.

The Hawker IGA has a Coles and an ALDI supermarket nearby, and a survey of the local market found most residents only used the IGA for a small part of their grocery shopping, the ACCC said on Thursday.

The watchdog would continue to pay close attention to all acquisitions by the major supermarket chains to ensure competition is not weakened, its chairman Rod Sims said.