By Ilona Billington
LONDON--The U.K.'s trade deficit widened in April as exports
were lower than in March, official data showed Friday.
The news that exports are failing to improve means the outlook
for long-term sustainable economic growth remains tough because
boosting the manufacture of goods and their sales overseas is a key
factor in achieving growth.
The Office for National Statistics said the U.K.'s trade in
goods deficit was GBP8.9 billion ($14.9 billion) in April. That is
up from GBP8.3 billion in March and wider than economists
expectations that the goods trade deficit was GBP8.7 billion.
The ONS statisticians said that the goods trade figure was
affected by an omission in oil exports from Revenue and Customs.
The government department noticed a mistake in the initial data
that were sent to the ONS statisticians, where they underestimated
the export of oil by GBP700 million.
However, the mistake was identified too late in the statistical
process for the ONS to fully update its monthly trade bulletin. As
a result the ONS have only been able to apply the new data to the
final version of its statistical calculations.
ONS statistician Katherine Kent said at the release of the data
Friday that GBP8.9 billion was an accurate figure for April's trade
in goods balance.
Details of the release showed that the slowdown of 1.5% in
exports was mainly due to a decline in demand for medical and
pharmaceutical chemicals.
The data also showed that imports rose 0.8% in April from March,
likely reflecting the continued improvement of the U.K. economy and
rising consumer confidence as more jobs are created.
Other figures published by the ONS show that total trade in
goods and services widened sharply to GBP1.8 billion in April from
March's GBP1.1 billion.
Write to Ilona Billington at ilona.billington@wsj.com