UK trade deficit widens in June

Britain's trade deficit with the rest of the world worsened unexpectedly in June. The figures suggest that the weakening pound is not yet feeding through to greater exports.

"Figures from the Office for National Statistics show the UK's trade deficit in goods and services climbed by £2bn between May and June to £4.56bn – the widest since September 2016," says the Financial Times.

Imports rose by 3.3 per cent overall in the month while exports declined by 0.7 per cent, says The Guardian.

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But behind the headlines the scale of the drop in the sale of UK-made goods overseas was higher at 4.9 per cent. This suggests that services exports rose, highlighting the "still elusive rebalancing within the UK economy", adds the FT.

For the second quarter between May and June as a whole, there was a much more marginal increase in the deficit of £100m to £8.9bn.

The figures also show that sales of goods to countries outside the EU fell by 7.9 per cent. This dragged down exports despite a rise in the sale of goods to the EU of 2.7 per cent.

"The UK is becoming more and not less dependent on the European Union, whatever the result of the referendum last year," says Edward Hardy, an economist at World First.

"The numbers are a firm signal that the continent is still the place to be for selling overseas and making the most of the weaker pound."