LONDON, Sept 10: Britain’s goods trade gap narrowed slightly in July but the deficit on oil hit a record high, perhaps because of changing maintenance patterns at North Sea installations, official statistics showed on Wednesday.

The Office for National Statistics said that Britain’s goods trade gap shrank to 7.667 billion pounds in July from an upwardly-revised 7.993 billion in June. Economists had forecast a deficit of 7.5 billion pounds.

The goods trade gap with non-EU countries was broadly flat at 4.726 billion pounds versus 4.774 billion pounds in June.

Analysts had forecast a deficit of 4.55 billion pounds.

The deficit on oil hit a record high of 1.316 billion pounds, up from 747 million in June. The oil deficit in the three months to July was also a record figure.

The ONS said the higher deficit might be due to changing maintenance patterns at North Sea plants and also the high price meant that small changes in volume could have a big effect.

Some economists, however, have cautioned that poor economic conditions in the United States and Europe mean that this is unlikely, as demand for exports will also suffer.—Reuters