Statistics Canada announced on Friday that Canada’s merchandise trade deficit stood at CAD0.96 billion in August, narrowing from a revised CAD1.38 billion gap in July (originally a CAD1.12-billion gap).

Economists had expected a deficit of CAD1.00 billion.

According to the report, the country’s exports rose 1.8 percent m-o-m in August, due mainly to a gain in exports of energy products (+3.9 percent m-o-m) and aircraft (+38.7 percent m-o-m). Meanwhile, imports increased 1.0 percent m-o-m in August, mostly on higher imports of non-metallic mineral products (+9.4 percent m-o-m) and energy products (+9.7 percent m-o-m).