British Trade Deficit Narrows In January

Britain's deficit in trade in goods shrank to 6.2 billion pounds (US$ 11.9 billion) in January from 6.9 billion in December, official data showed March 13. That marked the lowest level since October 2005 and was mostly due to a fall in the deficit with non-EU countries, the Office for National Statistics said.

Britain's trade with non-EU countries narrowed to 3.7 billion pounds in January -- the smallest shortfall since June 2006 -- compared with an unrevised 4.3 billion in December.

Meanwhile, the trade deficit with the EU countries, now including Romania and Bulgaria, also narrowed somewhat to 2.5 billion pounds from a downwardly-revised 2.6 billion pounds in December.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2007