Britain's global goods trade gap narrowed in September, but by less than expected as the oil balance remained in the red for a second straight month, official figures showed on Wednesday.
The Office for National Statistics said the goods trade gap narrowed to 5.4 billion pounds from a revised record 5.9 billion pounds ($10.25 billion) in August, wider than the 5.3 billion pounds economists had expected.
Economists said the figures showed some improvement although the goods and services deficit for the third quarter widened to 13.3 billion pounds and is likely to be a net drag on overall economic growth after helping boost it in the second quarter.
The data are unlikely to influence Bank of England policymakers, who are widely expected to leave interest rates unchanged at 4.5 percent on Thursday.
Britain's export performance has shown signs of improvement recently.
Underlying export volumes in the three months to September were up 10 percent on the same period a year ago while underlying import volumes rose 6.5 percent.
Analysts said whether a nascent recovery in the euro zone is sustained is key to hopes of rebalancing the economy from its reliance on domestic consumer spending.
The goods trade gap with non-EU countries narrowed to 2.29 billion pounds in September from 3.1 billion. But the deficit with EU countries widened to 3.15 billion pounds, the biggest gap since records began, as exports fell across a broad range of commodities.
The figures showed that Britain was a net importer of oil for the second straight month in September, something not seen since monthly records began in early 1980. However the oil deficit, at 201 million pounds, was smaller than the 507 million pound gap in August.