Balance of payments, UK: October to December 2025

• The underlying UK current account deficit, excluding precious metals, narrowed to £8.4 billion, or 1.1% of gross domestic product (GDP), in Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2025; this is a change of £0.6 billion compared with the deficit of £9.0 billion (revised from £10.5 billion) in the previous quarter.

• The UK current account deficit, including trade in precious metals, widened by £7.7 billion to £18.4 billion, or 2.4% of GDP, in Quarter 4 2025.

• The total trade deficit, excluding precious metals, narrowed to £2.2 billion, or 0.3% of GDP, in Quarter 4 2025, compared with £4.1 billion (revised from £4.6 billion) in the previous quarter; the goods deficit narrowed to £55.5 billion, and the services surplus decreased to £53.3 billion.

• The primary income account deficit widened to £2.7 billion, or 0.3% of GDP, in Quarter 4 2025.

• There was a net financial inflow of £9.4 billion in Quarter 4 2025.

• The preliminary estimate of the UK's net international investment liability position on 31 December 2025 widened to £199.8 billion, from £151.8 billion (revised from £261.4 billion), as of 30 September 2025.

• Data for all quarters back to Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2024 have been open to revisions, with revisions to "current account, excluding precious metals" data ranging from negative 0.3% to positive 0.2% of GDP.

The UK's current account balance is a measure of the country's balance of payments (BoP) with the rest of the world in trade, primary income, and secondary income.

The underlying UK current account deficit, excluding precious metals, narrowed to £8.4 billion, or 1.1% of gross domestic product (GDP), in Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2025. This is a change of £0.6 billion from the deficit of £9.0 billion, or 1.2% of GDP, in the previous quarter, revised from £10.5 billion.

Table 1 summarises the current account data for Quarter 4 2025. The narrowing of the current account deficit in the latest quarter was largely caused by a £2.1 billion narrowing of the trade in goods deficit. This was partially offset by a £1.9 billion expansion of the primary income deficit.

Trade

The total trade deficit for goods and services narrowed to £2.2 billion, or 0.3% of GDP, in Quarter 4 2025, from £4.1 billion in the previous quarter (revised from £4.6 billion). The trade in goods deficit narrowed to £55.5 billion, or 7.2% of GDP, and the trade in services surplus decreased to £53.3 billion, or 6.9% of GDP.

Figure 3: Both exports and imports of goods fell in Quarter 4 2025

Changes in exports and imports of goods, excluding unspecified and semi manufactured goods, £ billion, Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2025 compared with Quarter 3 (July to Sept) 2025

Notes:

1. Unspecified goods and semi manufactured goods are not included in this chart or commentary because the commodities contain elements of precious metals.

The trade in goods deficit narrowed by £2.1 billion in Quarter 4 2025, as imports of goods decreased more than exports. Total goods imports fell by £3.7 billion, from £152.9 billion in Quarter 3 (July to Sept) 2025, to £149.2 billion in Quarter 4 2025. The largest decreases in imports of goods were recorded in:

• finished manufactured goods, down by £2.9 billion

• other fuels, down by £0.4 billion

Exports of goods decreased by £1.5 billion, from £95.2 billion in Quarter 3 2025 to £93.7 billion in Quarter 4 2025. The largest decrease was recorded in finished manufactured goods, down by £1.0 billion.

The trade in services surplus decreased by £0.2 billion in Quarter 4 2025, as both exports and imports of services increased, with imports increasing by a greater amount.

Imports of services increased by £2.4 billion to £86.6 billion in Quarter 4 2025. The largest increases in imports were recorded in other business, insurance and pension services, and intellectual property, all increasing by £0.5 billion each.

Exports of services increased by £2.2 billion to £140.0 billion in Quarter 4 2025. The largest increases in exports were recorded in:

• telecommunications, computer and information services, up by £1.6 billion

• financial, up by £0.8 billion

• travel, up by £0.7 billion

These increases were partially offset by a fall of £1.2 billion in other business services.

Primary income

The primary income account records income that the UK receives and pays on financial and other assets, along with the compensation of employees.

The primary income account deficit widened from £0.7 billion in Quarter 3 2025 (revised from £1.9 billion) to £2.7 billion, or 0.3% of GDP, in Quarter 4 2025, as debits increased more than credits.

UK receipts (credits) increased by £0.7 billion from the previous quarter, to £108.4 billion. Earnings on direct investment abroad fell, while earnings on portfolio and other investment rose.

UK payments to foreign investors (debits) increased by £2.6 billion from the previous quarter, to £111.1 billion in Quarter 4 2025. This is because of increased payments on direct investment and other investment, which rose by £2.0 billion and £0.7 billion, respectively. This was slightly offset by decreased payments on portfolio investment of £0.1 billion, in which earnings on equity securities increased by £3.2 billion and earnings on debt securities fell by £3.3 billion.

Secondary income

The secondary income account shows current transfers between UK residents and non-residents.

The secondary income deficit narrowed from £4.1 billion, or 0.5% of GDP, in Quarter 3 2025, to £3.6 billion, or 0.5% of GDP, in Quarter 4 2025.

A current account deficit, which the UK has experienced each year since 1984, places the UK as a net borrower with the rest of the world, indicating that overall expenditure in the UK exceeds national income. The UK must attract net financial inflows to finance its current (and capital) account deficit. This can be achieved through either disposing of overseas assets to overseas investors or accruing liabilities with the rest of the world.

The financial account recorded a net inflow of £9.4 billion in Quarter 4 (Oct to Dec) 2025 after recording a net inflow of £25.2 billion in Quarter 3 (July to Sept) 2025.

Net acquisition of UK assets (investment abroad) represented a financial outflow of £15.6 billion in Quarter 4 2025. Direct investment recorded an outflow of £23.8 billion, as UK investors continued to reinvest earnings to the value of £21.8 billion, while disinvesting in debt instruments to the value of £2.1 billion.

Portfolio investment switched from an outflow of £49.2 billion in Quarter 3 2025 to an inflow of £26.8 billion in Quarter 4 2025. This is because UK investors invested in foreign debt securities to the value of £6.5 billion, while disinvesting in foreign equity and investment fund shares to the value of £33.3 billion. Other investment abroad recorded an outflow of £19.2 billion in Quarter 4 2025.

Net incurrence of UK liabilities (investment in the UK) generated an inflow of £24.9 billion in Quarter 4 2025. Direct investment recorded an inflow of £25.4 billion, as direct investors invested more in equity capital and reinvested earnings. Portfolio investment recorded a £34.7 billion inflow, as foreign investors invested in UK debt securities and equity and investment fund shares. Other investment switched from an inflow of £213.2 billion in Quarter 3 2025 to an outflow of £35.2 billion in Quarter 4 2025.

More details are available in our Quarterly economic commentary article.

The international investment position (IIP) represents the UK's balance sheet with the rest of the world. IIP measures the difference between the net stock of assets and liabilities at a point in time, which we report as the last day of each quarter.

The preliminary estimate of the UK's net international investment liability position was £199.8 billion at the end of Quarter 4 (31 December) 2025, compared with £151.8 billion at the end of Quarter 3 (30 September) 2025 (revised from £261.4 billion).

In addition to a net inflow, as recorded in Section 3: Financial account, the IIP was impacted by rising equity prices. These rises increased the value of both UK assets held abroad and foreign-held liabilities in the UK during Quarter 4 2025. However, the upward revaluation of liabilities outweighed that of assets.

The UK asset position on 31 December 2025 was valued at £14,778.8 billion. The value of the UK liability position with the rest of the world was valued at £14,978.6 billion.

In line with our National Accounts Revisions Policy, the data accompanying this bulletin are open to revision from 2024 onwards. Revisions to "current account, excluding precious metals" data range from negative 0.3% to positive 0.2% of gross domestic product (GDP).

Revisions resulted from:

• improvements to our methodology for removing the double counting of precious metals across different data sources from Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2024

• a processing error in ship transactions data from Quarter 1 2024

• revisions to trade in goods exports, because of new merchanting data, from Quarter 1 2024

• updated trade in services data, as updated administrative data became available, allowing us to extend our method for forecasting travel services to incorporate Civil Aviation Authority passenger data

Data sources

Balance of payments statistics are compiled from a variety of sources and produced using the national accounts sector and financial accounts (SFA) framework. Some of the main sources used include:

• overseas trade statistics (HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC))

• International Trade in Services Survey (ITIS) from the Office for National Statistics (ONS)

• International Passenger Survey (ONS); this was suspended between March 2020 and January 2021 because of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, and is currently undergoing transformation

• Foreign Direct Investment Survey (ONS and Bank of England (BoE))

• various financial inquiries (ONS and BoE)

• Ownership of UK Quoted Shares Survey (ONS)

Trade is measured through both exports and imports of goods and services. Data are supplied by over 30 sources, including several administrative sources, with HMRC being the largest for trade in goods. The ITIS, conducted by the ONS, is the largest single data source for trade in services.

The main source of information for UK foreign direct investment (FDI) statistics is our FDI Survey. Separate surveys are used to collect data on inward and outward FDI. This is combined with data from the BoE on the banking sector.

The statistics in this bulletin are compiled using the asset and liability measurement principle, which uses residency as the main distinction between outward and inward investments.

Changes affecting UK trade statistics

Precious metals methods improvement

As previously communicated, when implementing improvements to recording trade in precious metals as part of our Blue Book and Pink Book 2025: UK trade impact estimates article, we removed the double counting of some precious metals bars and included previously under-recorded, non-monetary gold that is not in bar form.

As we continue to improve the methods used to capture trade of precious metals, we have identified further double counting of some metals. This double counting occurred as some precious metals data from the BoE were also included within data we received from HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC). In this bulletin, we have removed this double counting back to Quarter 1 (Jan to Mar) 2024, revising imports and exports of semi manufactured goods.

Revisions for periods before 2024 will be included in our upcoming GDP quarterly national accounts UK: April to June 2026 bulletin and our Balance of payments, UK: April to June 2026 bulletin, both scheduled to be published on 30 September 2026.

Ship transactions

As previously communicated, we identified a processing error that affected our estimates of ship transactions from Quarter 1 2024. This processing error has now been resolved. This error affected both imports and exports of finished manufactured goods.

After the identification of this error, we have reviewed how this data source feeds into our systems and have improved this part of our processing.

Merchanting

We have received new merchanting data from the International Trade in Services Survey (ITIS) back to Quarter 1 2024. Merchanting data represent the purchases and sales of goods that are purchased for the direct purpose of resale, and that remain outside of the UK. The largest product typically traded by merchanting is oil; therefore, this new data revises Oil, for exports only.

More information on this is available in our UK trade quality and methods guide methodology.

Data collection changes

Since the UK left the EU on 31 January 2020, the arrangements for how the UK trades with the EU have changed. HMRC implemented some data collection changes following Brexit, which affected statistics on UK trade in goods with the EU. We have made adjustments to our estimates of goods imports from the EU in 2021 and 2022 to account for these changes. However, a structural break remains in the full time series for goods imports from and exports to the EU from January 2021.

We therefore advise caution when interpreting and drawing conclusions from these statistics. Our Impact of trade in goods data collection changes on UK trade statistics: summary of adjustments and the structural break from 2021 article provides more detail.

International trade in services estimates

From September 2025 until early 2027, International trade in services survey (ITIS) data, which account for approximately 50% of total trade in services, are being processed once per quarter. During this period, the data are based on a survey response rate of approximately 60% to 70%. This enables more focus on improving processing systems and ensuring methods and quality in the future.

The ITIS data that currently inform trade in services estimates are based on benchmarked annual 2023 survey data and quarterly ITIS survey data for periods from Quarter 1 2024 onwards. We plan to incorporate benchmarked annual 2024 data in September 2026, in line with our National Accounts Revisions Policy.

The International Passenger Survey (IPS), which is the source of travel services estimates, accounting for approximately 8% of total trade, is being transformed under our travel and tourism project. The travel services estimates have been forecast since Quarter 3 2024 and will be forecast during travel and tourism transformation.

Financial sector statistics

Our Financial Services Survey (FSS) transformation will improve the quality of our financial sector statistics. During the period of transformation, starting from Quarter 1 2024, financial services statistics in this bulletin are based on forecasts.

Quality and methodology

More quality and methodology information on strengths, limitations, appropriate uses, and how the data were created is available in our Balance of payments quality and methodology information (QMI).

We will continue to produce our UK balance of payments statistics in line with the UK Statistics Authority's Code of Practice for Statistics, and in accordance with internationally agreed statistical guidance and standards. This is based on the International Monetary Fund's Balance of Payments and International Investment Position Manual: Sixth Edition (BPM6) (PDF, 3.0MB), until those standards are updated.

Accredited official statistics

These accredited official statistics were independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation in December 2011. They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics and should be labelled "accredited official statistics".