Canada’ current-account deficit on transactions with the rest of the world narrowed to $9.8-billion in the fourth quarter.

It is a smaller than expected decrease from a record set in the previous period, government figures showed.

The deficit suggests that trade will remain a drag on economic growth this year, as the Bank of Canada predicted in January. Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney has said that a strong currency and a low volume of U.S. orders will limit the country’s expansion to 2.9 percent this year.

The agency revised its estimate of the third-quarter gap to $13.8 billion (all amounts in Canadian dollars) from $13.1 billion, the most in records going back to 1946.

Canada swung to a surplus of $577 million in the trade of goods from a third-quarter deficit of $4.13 billion. Exports of energy products rose by $3.7 billion, led by crude oil, and industrial goods shipments increased $1.9 billion.

The deficit in investment income widened to $3.69 billion in the fourth quarter from $3.38 billion, on a decline in dividends that Canadians received on foreign investments and higher profits that international investors reaped from Canadian companies.

The deficit in services trade grew to $5.75 billion in the quarter from $5.61 billion, Statistics Canada said.

For all of last year, Canada posted a current account deficit of $41.3 billion, after a 2008 surplus of $8.12 billion.

The current account is the broadest measure of international trade, covering goods, services and investments. The flow of money coming into or leaving Canada suggests changes in demand for the Canadian dollar.