Ottawa--Canada's trade deficit narrowed in April to Can$3.0 billion (US$2.4 billion), as oil exports rose for the first time in months, the government statistical agency said Wednesday.
The figure is down a revised Can$3.9 billion the previous month, but still beat analysts' expectations of a Can$2.0 billion deficit.
Overall imports declined 2.5 percent to Can$44.9 billion in April, while exports fell 0.7 percent to Can$41.9 billion, according to Statistics Canada.
Imports of passenger cars and light trucks were up, but imports of clothing, footwear and accessories, unwrought precious metals and precious metal alloys, and medium and heavy trucks, buses and other motor vehicles fell.
Exports of crude oil and crude bitumen, meanwhile, rose, primarily on the strength of volumes.
Pharmaceutical and medicinal products exports as well as foreign sales of lumber and other sawmill and millwork products, however, fell.
Statistics Canada noted a drop in imports from China.
The government agency also said Canada's trade surplus with its biggest trading partner, the United States, widened from Can$1.6 billion in March to Can$2.4 billion in April.
AFP
