Balance of payments

Britain’s trading position with the rest of world suffered a reverse as official figures showed that the UK’s current account deficit was £23.1 billion in second quarter of the year, against £20.5 billion for the first quarter.

The trade in services surplus was £21.6 billion in second quarter, an increase on the £19.7 billion surplus for the first quarter.

Exports were £0.1 billion higher at £50.9 billion, while imports decreased by £1.8 billion to £29.2 billion.

However, in the second quarter of the year, the trade in goods deficit increased to £28.1 billion, compared with £27.1 billon in the first quarter.

Exports fell by £1.1 billion, while imports fell by £0.1 billion.

A deficit of £24.7 billion was recorded with the EU in the second quarter of the year, compared with a deficit of £22.6 billion in first quarter.

The current account with non-EU countries showed a surplus of £1.6 billion in second quarter of 2014, compared with a surplus of £2.1 billion in the first quarter.

The figures are the first to be produced by the Office for National Statistics using new definitions in line with those published by the International Monetary Fund in the Balance of payments manual, so statistics produced both here and abroad are compiled in a consistent, comparable and reliable way.

The revised figures show a current account deficit in 2013 of £72.4 billion against £61.9 billion the year before.

www.ons.gov.uk/ons/dcp171778_379083.pdf