LONDON, Nov 10 (Reuters) - Britain's goods trade deficit with the rest of the world widened more than expected in September to its biggest since January as imports rose much faster than exports, official data showed.
The Office for National Statistics said on Tuesday that Britain's goods trade gap widened to 7.194 billion pounds in September from 6.073 billion pounds in August, well above analysts' expectations for a deficit of 6.1 billion pounds.
Policymakers have been expecting the weakness of the pound to boost exports and help rebalance the economy but the figures show little sign of that yet.
The ONS said the deterioration in the trade balance was partly due to a surge in car imports, which rose by 30 percent in September, helped by the government's car scrappage scheme.
The oil deficit widened to 500 million pounds, its biggest since July 2008. The ONS said higher oil imports were due to domestic production being suppressed by summer maintenance work on North Sea oil refineries extending into September.
The goods trade gap with non-EU countries widened unexpectedly to 3.783 billion pounds from 3.060 billion pounds in August. Analysts had forecast a deficit of 3.0 billion pounds.
Britain's total trade deficit, which includes both goods and services, widened to 3.469 billion pounds -- the widest since August 2008.