British trade deficit widens to 2.9 bln pounds in Feb.

British deficit on trade in goods and services was estimated to have been 2.9 billion pounds (4.3 billion U.S. dollars) in February 2015, increasing substantially from the previous month's 1.5 billion pounds, said Office for National Statistics (ONS) Thursday.

Britain registered a 10.3-billion-pound deficit on goods trade and an estimated surplus of 7.5 billion pounds on services in February, data showed.

The widening of trade deficit between January and February 2015 mainly reflected a fall in exports of goods to non-EU countries, particularly to the United States.

In terms of commodities, the main decreases were in the exports of miscellaneous manufactures, material manufactures and chemical manufactures, noted ONS.

In the three months to February, the total trade deficit narrowed by 0.4 billion to 6.5 billion pounds, reflecting an increase in goods exported to countries outside the European Union.

Over the same period, the trade deficit in goods between Britain and countries within the EU reached a record high of 21.1 billion pounds, figures also showed. (1 pound = 1.49 U.S. dollars) Endit