Trade - Another month in the red
WORKERS, OCT 2007 ISSUE
In July, total exports of goods rose by 2.5 per cent to £19.2 billion while imports rose by 4 per cent to £26.3 billion, according to the Office for National Statistics. So the trade deficit for the month was £7.1 billion, after June's £6.5 billion. These are the kinds of figures we used to see after a year's trading, and a bad year at that.
Manufacturing output is the same as it was in 1995. Sterling is still kept high, making imports cheap and our exports uncompetitive. The manufacturing fifth of the economy produces two-thirds of our exports, so the continuing destruction of manufacturing industry will necessarily worsen the country's trade deficit.