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LONDON: Britain's goods trade deficit with the rest of the world unexpectedly widened in January to its biggest since August 2008, raising further concerns about the strength of the country's broader economic recovery.
The Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday that after the sharpest drop in exports in over three years, Britain's goods trade gap widened to 7.987 billion pounds ($11.97 billion) from 7.010 billion in December, and well above the 7 billion forecast by economists.
The figures are likely to further raise policymakers' concern that the sharp fall in sterling over the past two years has not led to the expected boost in exports -- a point reiterated by Bank of England policymaker Kate Barker on Monday.
"It's a pretty disappointing number," said Alan Clarke, economist at BNP Paribas. "Trade is one area where people have been expecting an improvement but it doesn't seem to be happening. This is bad news for first quarter gross domestic product."
The goods trade gap with non-EU countries also widened unexpectedly to 4.834 billion pounds from 3.428 billion, the biggest deficit since January 2009. -Reuters
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