Institutional analysis indicates that Canada's bleak trade report for April seems to have weakened to a certain extent the Bank of Canada's reason for keeping the benchmark interest rate unchanged this week. The Bank of Canada said earlier that it will keep its policy interest rate unchanged at 2.75%, partly because the economy has slowed down, but it has not deteriorated. Meanwhile, Canada's April trade report showed that the country's trade performance was sluggish, with exports falling 10.8%, to the lowest level in nearly two years, and the trade deficit widened to a record 7.14 billion Canadian dollars. Statistics Canada notes that the strongest monthly appreciation of the Canadian dollar since May 2021 has driven a sharp decline in export data. In US dollars, Canadian exports fell 8.4% in April. Exports to the US fell 15.7%, which may reflect the acceleration of US importers placing orders from Canadian suppliers in the first quarter to avoid tariffs.

Institutional analysis indicates that Canada's bleak trade report for April seems to have weakened to a certain extent the Bank of Canada's reason for keeping the benchmark interest rate unchanged this week. The Bank of Canada said earlier that it will keep its policy interest rate unchanged at 2.75%, partly because the economy has slowed down, but it has not deteriorated. Meanwhile, Canada's April trade report showed that the country's trade performance was sluggish, with exports falling 10.8%, to the lowest level in nearly two years, and the trade deficit widened to a record 7.14 billion Canadian dollars. Statistics Canada notes that the strongest monthly appreciation of the Canadian dollar since May 2021 has driven a sharp decline in export data. In US dollars, Canadian exports fell 8.4% in April. Exports to the US fell 15.7%, which may reflect the acceleration of US importers placing orders from Canadian suppliers in the first quarter to avoid tariffs.