UK trade deficit remains level in July, says ONS
Tuesday, 13 September 2011 11:20
The UK’s trade deficit for July remained at £8.9 billion, unchanged from June.
Both exports and imports were at their highest levels on record, according to official data published by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
The UK’s seasonally adjusted deficit on trade in goods and services remained at £4.5 billion in July. Meanwhile, the seasonally adjusted deficit on trade in goods remained at £8.9 billion in July.
Export prices of goods fell by 0.7 per cent but import prices rose by 1.3 per cent, compared with June.
Most analysts had expected the trade deficit to fall to around £8.5 billion. Export levels increased by £1.4 billion (5.6 per cent) to £25.4 billion and imports rose by the same amount (4.3 per cent) to £34.3 billion.
There was an increase in exports to non-EU countries of £0.7 billion (6.1 per cent) to reach £11.4 billion. This provided a boost to the government’s ambitions to forge new trading links with countries from the emerging markets, such as India, Brazil and China. This policy forms a central part of the government’s economic recovery plan.
Howard Archer, from IHS Global Insight said: “The ongoing large trade deficit in July is disappointing for UK growth prospects. While there was a welcome rebound in exports after a dip in June, this was countered by increased imports.
“Furthermore, weakened global growth, particularly the slowdown in the Eurozone, does not bode well for UK exports in the near term at least. It is likely though that subdued UK domestic demand will contain imports.”
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