Widest Canadian Current Account Surplus in Nine Quarters
August 28, 2008
The C$ 6.758 billion current account surplus in the second quarter equaled roughly 1.7% of GDP, a tenth more than I expected despite a downward revision to the first-quarter surplus, which was 20% smaller than reported initially. This improvement reflected higher export commodity prices. Merchandise exports actually fell pretty significantly. The current account surplus had previously narrowed from 1.4% of GDP in 2006 to 0.9% of GDP in 2007 and merely 0.2% of GDP in the final quarter of last year. In 2Q08, a goods trade surplus of C$ 16.44 bln offset larger defiicts in services (C$ 5.89 billion), net investment payments (C$ 3.39 billion and transfers (C$ 0.4 billion). The subsequent downturn in commodity prices is likely to result in a smaller surplus in 3Q08.
Tags: Canadian Dollar
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