Canada’s merchandise trade surplus unexpectedly narrowed in March, as prices for energy exports fell and industrial goods imports rose the fastest since 1992.
The surplus shrank to C$254 million, Statistics Canada said today in Ottawa. The result was smaller than forecast by any of 19 economists in a Bloomberg Survey, which had a median surplus estimate of C$1.6 billion.
Canada has returned to trade surpluses this year after the global recession triggered the first deficits since 1976 amid slumping automobile production and commodity prices. The Bank of Canada may become the first Group of Seven central bank to raise interest rates on June 1, yields on interest-rate futures show, after the country had economic growth and inflation faster than Governor Mark Carney had predicted.
