The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said the UK’s deficit on trade in goods and services rose to £5.1 billion (€5.97 billion), growing from £4.2 billion in May.
Advertisement
June’s official data may be relatively stable, but July’s Markit/CIPS UK manufacturing purchasing managers’ index showed a fall to 48.2 from 52.4 in June and came in weaker than the flash estimate of 49.1, marking the lowest level since February 2013.
While economic growth accelerated to 0.6 per cent in the second quarter, the improvement was heavily centred on April.
ONS chief economist Joe Grice said: “Any uncertainties in the run-up to the referendum seem to have had little impact on production, with very few respondents to our surveys reporting it as an issue”.
In contrast, the Bank of England kick started its quantitative easing programme on Monday, have lowered interest rates to record lows last week to stave off an economic slowdown in Britain after the Brexit vote.
Month-on-month, the gauge trashed 0.3%, compared to the revised down 0.6% drop seen in May and against projections that had penciled in a 0.2% fall. Nine of 13 manufacturing sectors showed declines, with the biggest downward contribution coming from transport equipment, in particular motor vehicles.
United Kingdom exports failed to catch up with the country’s imports, which soared by almost 2 billion pounds to a record of 48.9 billion, the ONS said in its latest statement on the balance of trade.
There was also an upward revision to the deficit in May due to imports being 1.6 billion pounds higher than first estimated. The ONS said the UK’s deficit on trade in goods rose £900 million from £11.5 billion in May.
The total trade deficit unexpectedly widened to 12.5 billion pounds in the second quarter from 12 billion pounds in the first quarter, suggesting net trade once again held back growth. Exports and imports both rose about 3 percent.
Advertisement
Trade with other European Union nations accounted for two thirds of the gap.
