Canadian international trade in services, April 2022
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Released: 2022-06-07
$12.2 billion
April 2022
1.6% 
(monthly change)
$13.5 billion
April 2022
5.5%
(monthly change)
-$1.3 billion
April 2022
$76.5 billion
April 2022
0.7%
(monthly change)
$76.3 billion
April 2022
2.5%
(monthly change)
$0.2 billion
April 2022
Canada's monthly international trade in services deficit widened from $796 million in March to $1.3 billion in April. Overall, imports of services increased 5.5% to $13.5 billion, while exports were up 1.6% to $12.2 billion.
To explore the most recent results of Canada's international trade in services in an interactive format, see the International trade monthly interactive dashboard.
Chart 1
International trade in services
Imports of travel services increased a further 17.0% to $2.0 billion in April, following a significant increase in March. Exports of travel services also rose, up 11.9% to $2.1 billion. Starting on April 1, 2022, fully vaccinated travellers no longer needed to provide a pre-entry COVID-19 test result to enter Canada by air, land or water. However, fully vaccinated travellers arriving to Canada from any country could still be randomly selected to take a COVID-19 molecular test on arrival. Despite the recent large increases in travel services, in April imports (-54.8%) and exports (-13.5%) remained below their levels in February 2020, before the pandemic.
Imports of commercial services were up 3.5% to $8.1 billion in April, on widespread increases. Exports declined 1.3% to $8.4 billion, on lower exports of financial services.
Imports of transportation services rose 4.2% to $3.2 billion in April, due to higher payments of passenger fares and payments related to the marine shipment of goods. Exports of transportation services were up 5.1% to $1.5 billion, primarily due to higher receipts of passenger fares. Both imports (+23.9%) and exports (+9.3%) of transportation services in April were above their levels in February 2020. Transportation services related to the movement of goods have recovered rapidly following the first months of the pandemic, while services related to the transport of travellers were still below their February 2020 levels. The larger rebound for overall transportation services imports is largely due to an increase in services related to the marine shipment of goods, as the price of these services has increased significantly.
Chart 2
International trade in services, imports
Chart 3
International trade in services, exports
Chart 4
International trade in services, balances
By comparison, total imports of goods increased 1.9% to $62.8 billion in April and total exports of goods were up 0.6% to $64.3 billion, resulting in a surplus of $1.5 billion. Combined, the trade balance for goods and services amounted to a $184 million surplus in April, a $1.3 billion decline from a combined surplus of $1.5 billion in March.
Chart 5
International trade in goods and services, April 2022
The services trade deficit in March, originally reported at $1.0 billion in the previous release, was revised down to $796 million in the release for the current reference month. Exports of services were revised up by $154 million, mainly on upward revisions to commercial services. Imports of services were revised down by $86 million, on downward revisions to commercial services.
Note to readers
COVID-19 and additional data sources
Circumstances surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic pose issues for the production of monthly international trade in services statistics, particularly for travel and transportation services.
To better capture the effects of the pandemic, Statistics Canada is incorporating data from the Canada Border Services Agency's primary inspection kiosks into its monthly international trade-in-services program. These are electronic customs declaration kiosks that have been installed in most major Canadian airports. While these data represent only a subset of total travellers, they provide relevant and timely insights.
Further information on the estimation methodology is available upon request.
Next Release
Data on Canadian international trade in services for May will be released on July 7.
Products
The updated Canada and the World Statistics Hub (13-609-X) is available online. It illustrates the nature and extent of Canada's economic and financial relationship with the world using interactive charts and tables. This product provides easy access to information on trade, investment, employment and travel between Canada and a number of countries, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Mexico, China, Japan, Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands, and Spain.
The Methodological Guide: Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (13-607-X) is available.
The User Guide: Canadian System of Macroeconomic Accounts (13-606-G) is also available. This publication will be updated to maintain its relevance.
Contact information
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