–Aug Global Goods Trade Deficit Stg7.768bn vs Stg8.154bn Jul
–Aug Non-EU Goods Trade Deficit Stg4.867bn vs Stg4.651bn Jul
–Aug Total Trade Deficit Stg1.877bn vs Stg2.273bn Jul
–Aug Global Trade Gap Ex-oil/erratics Stg7.645bn vs Stg8.003bn Jul
–Aug EU-27 Trade Deficit Stg2.901bn vs Stg3.503bn Jul
LONDON (MNI) – The UK’s goods trade deficit narrowed in August as
the value of exports hit a record level, figures released by National
Statistics revealed Thursday.
The trade in goods shortfall stood at Stg7.768 billion in August,
down from Stg8.154 billion in July, the lowest since April and below the
median forecast of Stg8.8 billion.
Exports rose 0.6% on the month on a value basis to hit a record
high, while imports were down 0.7%. Exports were driven by fuels,
intermediate goods and food, drink and tobacco.
The underlying trade deficit, excluding oil and erratics items,
narrowed to Stg7.645 billion from Stg8.003 billion.
The total trade gap, including services, fell to Stg1.877 billion
from a revised Stg2.273 billion deficit in July from an originally
published figure of Stg3.682 billion. This was way below the median for
a Stg4.3 billion shortfall due to revisions to the data.
The latest figures contained significant revisions to past data
making it consistent with the Quarterly National Accounts and 2011 Blue
Book.
Major revisions came in the services sector where exports were
revised sharply higher over the past year. The trade surplus in services
has been revised up by around Stg1bn to Stg1.5bn in every month this
year, totalling Stg9 billion, with smaller but significant upward
revisions in earlier months.
This was mainly due to upward revisions to services exports due to
new data, classification changes and changes to seasonal adjustment.
–London newsroom: 44 20 7862 7491; email: drobinson@marketnews.com
[TOPICS: M$BDS$,M$B$$$,MT$$$$,MABDS$]
