UK trade deficit continues to move closer to balance in August
The UK's shortfall in its foreign trade in goods and services declined sharply over the three months to August as fuels exports increased and the surplus in services widened.
Over the three months to August, the total trade deficit, which includes both goods and services, shrank by £4.7bn to £2.8bn, according to the Office for National Statistics.
Fueling that drop, the deficit in goods trade narrowed by £3.5bn to reach £32.3bn, chiefly as a result of a fall in imports of unspecified goods, which ONS pointed out included non-monetary gold, and as fuels exports rose.
Exports of goods were up by 6.6% versus the three months to July to reach £90.4bn, whereas imports decreased by 1.7% to £122.6bn.
On the services balance, the surplus grew by £1.1bn to £29.4bn, with exports up by 2.2% on the month to £72.8bn and imports down by 1.0% to £43.4bn.
In volume terms, that is, excluding the impact from changes in prices, the narrowing in the trade deficit was even sharper, falling by £6.1bn to £0.8bn.
The largest drop in the goods deficit, of -£2.4bn, was recorded with other countries from the European Union, while with those from outside the trading bloc it fell by £1.1bn.
According to ONS, over the past 12 months, the total trade deficit had reduced by -£13.5bn and in terms of the quarterly rate of change had been falling for the past two years.
By way of comparison, over the three months to August 2017, the total trade deficit stood at -£8.8bn.