LONDON (AFX) - The UK's current account was 3.696 bln stg in deficit on a seasonally-adjusted basis in the fourth quarter compared with an upwardly revised shortfall of 4.046 bln (from 3.173 bln) in the previous three months, National Statistics said.
According to the median of economists' forecasts compiled by AFX, the current account was expected to have been 3.650 bln stg in deficit, with expectations for the size of deficit ranging from 3.0 to 4.5 bln.
NS said the decrease in the current account deficit was mainly due to higher surpluses on trade in services and investment income partially offset by higher deficits on trade in goods and current transfers.
Trade in services rose to 3.0 bln in the fourth quarter from 2.6 bln in the previous quarter, NS said.
The deficit on trade in goods in the fourth quarter was a record 7.6 bln compared with a deficit of 7.4 bln in the third quarter, it added.
NS went on to say that the surplus on investment income increased to 2.4 bln in the fourth quarter compared with 2.0 bln in the previous quarter.
The annual current account for 2000 was in deficit by 16.2 bln compared to a deficit of 9.9 bln in the previous year.
The following is a breakdown of the UK fourth-quarter balance of payments data. All figures are in mln stg.

CURRENT ACCOUNT (seasonally adjusted)
Trade in Trade in Investment Total CURRENT
goods services income transfers ACCOUNT

2000 Q4 -7,636 2,967 2,391 -1,454 -3,696

Q3 -7,395 2,603 2,034 -1,332 -4,046
Q2 -7,169 2,729 -0,208 -0,423 -3,963

1999 Q4 -6,842 2,861 4,291 -0,984 -0,648