The January real GDP growth rate was so strong that the economy could flat-line for February and March and still exceed the Bank of Canada’s expectations in its January MPR, but that’s only if January growth is not revised downwards. The so-called chained 2007 dollar estimates give similar but slightly different growth rates. Merchandise imports increased by 0.5% in February as opposed to 1.9% in January, while merchandise exports dropped by 2.5% in February as opposed to 0.9% in January.