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UK Trade Deficit Narrows But Manufacturing Slows Down

Posted By Alfonso Esparza On In FX,Newsfeed | No Comments

The UK’s trade deficit narrowed in December to its smallest since July 2012, but manufacturing growth was weaker than expected, Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show.

An increase in oil, chemical and aircraft exports helped the trade deficit in goods to fall by more than £2bn to £7.72bn, the ONS said.

Fewer imports of aircraft and ships also boosted the figures, it said.

Manufacturing output rose by 0.3% in December, less than the 0.6% predicted.

The wider measure of industrial output rose by 0.4% in the month.

However, the ONS said the weaker-than-expected growth was not enough to change the estimate of GDP growth in the fourth quarter of 2013, which was 0.7%.

When services were included, the overall trade deficit narrowed to £1bn in December. This was down from a deficit of £3.6bn the month earlier and also the smallest deficit since July 2012.

via BBC [1]

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza [6]

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse [7]
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza

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