Britain's trade deficit widened by more than expected in March as imports flooded into the country from non-European Union nations.
The deficit on trade in goods grew to £3.6 billion sterling (€4.2 billion) in March from an adjusted £3.5 billion the month before, Britain's National Statistics office said.
This was slightly higher than economists' consensus forecast of £3.5 billion for the month.
The trade deficit for the first three months of 2003 was £10.2 billion, slightly down on the previous quarter's £10.9 billion, National Statistics said.
Much of March's increase was due to a widening deficit with non-EU countries, the figures showed.
During the month the deficit with EU nations fell to £900 million from £1.1 billion the previous month; the deficit with the rest of the world soared from £2.4 billion to £2.7 billion, the figures showed.
With exports to non-EU nations little changed, much of the increased deficit came from a 3 per cent rise in imports into Britain from these nations.
Britain's trade deficit has soared recently, hitting £34.4 billion for 2002 as a whole, the biggest figure since records began in 1697.
In the past few weeks British manufacturers have received some relief from the tumbling value of the pound, but industry groups have expressed disappointment that the Bank of England decided against cutting interest rates at its monthly meeting last week.
AFP