Surging growth in international trade helped lift Canada’s current account surplus to its second highest level ever in the second quarter of 2004, Statistics Canada reported today.

According to StatsCan the country’s surplus increased by $2.2 billion to reach $10.4 billion.

StatsCan aid the surging surplus in the trade of goods more than offset weakness in other current account transactions.

The current account covers transactions on goods, services, investment income and current transfer.

The country’s surplus on trade in goods increased to $20 billion in the second quarter, up $3.6 billion from the first quarter. This was the second highest surplus on goods, only surpassed by the $22.2 billion surplus recorded during the first quarter of 2001.

The deficit on investment income grew $1.5 billion to $6.8 billion as profits earned by foreign direct investors in Canada rose by $1.3 billion in the second quarter.

Meanwhile, Canada’s deficit on trade in services shrank by $0.1 billion to $2.9 billion, as a smaller travel deficit was offset by a higher deficit for commercial services.