Current Account Deficit Down From Last Quarter

The current account deficit has come down from £10.5bn in Q3 to £8.5bn in Q4 2011. The trade deficit is also down from £8.8bn in Q3 to £7.1bn in Q4 2011 and the income surplus increased by £0.6bn to £4.6bn according to a balance of payments statistical bulletin from the ONS. The current account deficit for the whole of 2011 was £29bn.

Fall In Balance Of Payments Deficit

The current account reported a deficit of £9.4bn for the first quarter of 2011 equivalent to -2.5% of GDP. The deficit for Q4 2010 was £13bn. There was a deficit of £15bn with the EU compared with £16.9bn in Q4 2010. Trade in goods was -£22.2, trade in services showed a surplus of £13.8bn. Income fell from £7.4bn in Q4 2010 to £4.6bn in Q1 2011. The capital account balance was £0.6bn.

First Annual Figures For UK Trade 2009

The UK Trade deficit in goods and services in December 2009 was £3.3bn and in the fourth quarter (Q4) 2009 the deficit was £9.5bn. In November the figures were £2.9bn and £8.1bn respectively. In December 2008 it was £2bn.

The total balance of trade in goods and services with the world was a deficit of £7.3bn. The geographical pattern was that trade with the EU produced a deficit of £3.7bn and non-EU trade left a deficit of £3.6bn. The balance of trade in services left a surplus of £4bn. EU trade increased slightly and then remained the same over the last three months whereas non-EU trade decreased then increased again in December. The trend of growth in services has continued.

The first annual data for the whole of 2009 show that the trade deficit in goods and services narrowed by £4.4bn to £33.8bn in 2009. In 2008 it was £38.2bn. Trade in services, which is also included in the overall figure, in contrast, reported a surplus of £48.1bn in 2009. The surplus in trade in services decreased from a surplus of £55.1bn in 2008.

The deficit with EU countries narrowed by £2.5bn to £37bn in 2009 from £39.5bn in 2008. The non-EU deficit narrowed from £53.9bn in 2008 to December4.9bn in 2009, a difference of £9bn. The UKs most significant export trading partner outside the EU was the USA (£33.8bn) followed by Germany (£24.4bn). On imports it was the other way around. We imported more from Germany (£39.7bn) than anywhere else with USA second (£24.6bn).

There was a deficit in value on trade in goods of £7.3bn. Exports rose by £0.9bn, imports rose by £1.4bn. There were no great changes in the level of exports to any country over £0.2bn.

In terms of imports and exports, the volume of exports increased by 1%, imports by 4.5% in December. In Q4, the volume of exports increased by 5.8% and imports 7.2%. The price of exports increased by 0.1% and import 0.3% in December compared with November leading to a decrease in terms of trade. Over the quarter, export prices increased by 2% and import prices by 2.1%, leaving the terms of trade unchanged.

Farmworkers Pay In January

Full-time male agricultural workers earned on average £367.48/week or £8.09/hour for an average 45.4 hour week during January 2009 an increase of £0.83 on 2008. Female workers earned £7.17. Farm managers earned on average £551.43/week. Over the year to January 2009 the figures were £381.12/week or £7.88/hour for an average 48.4 hour week. Managers got £524.71/week according to the latest figures from DEFRA.

There are to be some changes to the survey in future. The survey will in future be published on an annual basis for the 12 months ending in September. The quarterly data will help achieve a representative sample of workers across the year.

A Narrowing In The Balance Of Payments

The ONS bulletin on the balance of payments showed a net current account deficit of £8.5bn from £8.8bn in the previous quarter. The income surplus increased by £3.4bn to £3.5bn, the deficit on trade in goods fell by £1.5bn to £20.8bn and the deficit on trade on current transfers increased by £1bn to £3.8bn. These were partly offset by the surplus on trade in services which fell £3.7bn to £12.6bn. The current account balance showed a £25.1bn deficit, or -1.7% of GDP in 2008 compared to -2.5% now. The deficit on trade in goods narrowed from £22.3bn to £20.8bn by £0.2bn in oil, fuels other than oil by £0.2bn and finished manufactured goods by £1bn. The surplus on trade in services was £12.6bn. It reflects a decrease in financial and insurance services. Direct investment income was up £3.7bn to £9.8bn, but portfolio investment showed a deficit of £1.4bn. The capital account was almost unchanged with a surplus of £0.8bn in Q1 2009. Net direct investment abroad was £32.4bn and in the UK £34.2bn. Net portfolio investment abroad was £38.3bn and in the UK £122.2bn, the highest on record. Debt securities accounted for £96.9bn in the first quarter.