导读:英国一季度达到自2008年以来最大贸易逆差。
The gap between imports and exports for the first three months of 2016 stands at 13.3bn pounds, up from 12.2bn pounds in the fourth quarter of 2015, says the Office for National Statistics (ONS).
据英国国家统计办公室透露，英国2016年前三个月贸易逆差达到了133亿英镑，较去年第四季度的122亿英镑有较大增长。
Analysts said this was more evidence of the weight of global economic weakness on the UK. One described the figures as "truly horrible"
分析人士表明，这更显示了全球经济疲软对英国的不利影响。有人形容这些经济数据“真正地让人害怕”。
UK economic growth has already slowed to 0.4% in the first quarter.
英国第一季度经济增速下降到了0.4%。
The ONS said the UK trade gap widened over the quarter because of a ?1.9bn rise in imports such as mechanical machinery, cars, clothing, jewellery and footwear.
据英国国家统计办公室透露，逆差的扩大是因为英国的进口增加了19亿英镑，包括机械、汽车、服装、珠宝和鞋类等在内商品的进口量有较大增长。
Meanwhile, exports increased by just 500m pounds, led by chemical products.
然而出口只增长了5亿英镑，主要是化工产品。
"A truly horrible first-quarter trade performance that clearly weighed down on GDP growth," said Howard Archer from IHS Global Insight.
环球透视的霍华德·阿彻说：“英国第一季度的贸易表现真是让人感到害怕，这明显地拖累了GDP的增长。”
He added that UK exports had been hampered by moderate global demand as well as sterling’s strength in 2015, particularly against the euro.
他补充说道，平稳的国际需求阻碍了英国出口的增长，同时英镑走高（尤其对于欧元）也加大了英国的出口压力。
"The hope has to be that UK exporters will increasingly be helped by the overall marked weakening of the pound in 2016, although the pound has climbed off its April lows," he continued.
他继续说道：“尽管目前英镑已经从四月低点向上爬升了，但是英国出口增加的希望将被放在2016年英镑整体走低的趋势上。”
Unacceptably large’
‘难以接受的巨大损失’
Within this period, there was a slight improvement in March’s numbers, with the deficit narrowing by ?0.5bn to ?3.8bn.
在第一季度，三月份的数据略有改善，贸易逆差减少了5亿英镑，整体逆差下降到了38亿英镑。
But the British Chambers of Commerce, a business group, said this was little cause for comfort.
但是英国商会表示，这对整个恶劣局面并没有太大帮助。
"In spite of the small improvement seen in March, the UK’s trade deficit worsened over the quarter and remains unacceptably large," the group said.
英国商会表示：“尽管在三月份有一个小幅度的改善，但是第一季度英国贸易逆差在不断扩大，并且造成了难以接受的巨大损失。”
Last month, figures showed that economic growth in the UK had been hit by a drop in manufacturing and construction output.
上个月，英国经济数据显示，由于制造业和建筑业产出的下降，英国经济增长率受到了巨大打击。
Last week, the closely watched Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) added to those concerns by indicating that UK growth was "near stalling".
上周，受到各方关注的采购经理人指数（PMI）显示英国经济“几乎快要停滞了”，引起了社会各界的担忧。
Chris Williamson from Markit, which compiles the PMI reports, said: "The weakness of exports is by no means severe but is just one of many headwinds acting against the UK economy at the moment, compounding growing uncertainty at home due to referendum worries."
来自Markit的克里斯·威廉姆森编撰了PMI，他说：“出口降低的劣势并不严重，而且也只是目前阻碍英国经济的众多原因之一，目前国内日益增长的对于公投不确定性的担忧也阻碍了英国经济的发展。”
