The UK's trade deficit increased in April with both imports and exports affected by the ash cloud that grounded flights in and out of the UK for six days.

The trade deficit in goods and services was £3.3bn in April, marking an increase on the previous month's £3.2bn, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Exports and imports declined 0.6% and 0.4% respectively last month as the goods deficit also rose slightly from £7.26bn to £7.28bn

"It's hard to read too much into these figures because of distortions due to the volcanic ash disruption but it is possible the deficit could get a bit worse in the near term because of doubts about the strength of recovery in the eurozone," said Brian Hilliard, chief UK economist at Societe Generale.