merchandise trade surplus declined in the latest month, April 2008, to $61.3 billion, on an annualized basis, according to the latest report from Statistics Canada.

This figure, while down from March�s level of $68.3 billion, still compares favorably with the long-term average ($60.0 billion since 2001) and is way up from the low point over the past seven years of only $26.0 billion. That moment of weakness came in the final month of last year, three months after the Canadian dollar climbed to parity with the U.S. dollar.

The importance of Canada�s merchandise trade balance is that a healthy surplus has traditionally made a significant contribution to Canada�s Gross Domestic Product (GDP).

There are also some other implications that can be drawn from the goods trade figures with respect to the overall economy. First, exports and imports give an indication of how much impact currency change is having on international sales. Second, there are the implications for domestic jobs in export-dependent or import-competing industries.

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