THE UK’s global goods trade deficit narrowed in September, official figures show, but economists noted a fall in exports and a rise in imports in volume terms during the third quarter would have been a drag on economic growth.

Figures published yesterday by the Office for National Statistics show the UK’s global goods trade deficit narrowed from £12.35 billion in August to £11.25bn in September. This was a better outturn than the £12.8bn deficit forecast for September by economists. Taking goods and services together, the UK’s trade deficit narrowed from £3.5bn in August to £2.8bn in September.

However, noting the UK’s overall trade deficit had widened to £9.5bn in the third quarter from £6.5bn in the preceding three months, Ruth Gregory at Capital Economics said: “The latest trade figures made for pretty disappointing reading.”

Comparing the third quarter with the previous three months, goods export volumes fell 1.8 per cent. Goods import volumes were up by 1.9 per cent.

Ms Gregory said: “This suggests that the second estimate of Q3 GDP published later this month – which will reveal the expenditure breakdown of Q3 growth – is likely to show that net trade subtracted 0.5 [percentage points] or so from growth in Q3.”

But she was optimistic “net trade will provide more support to growth in the quarters ahead”.