By Jon Sindreu and Jason Douglas

LONDON--Britain's trade deficit narrowed in December, but official data confirmed weak exports were still a drag on economic growth during the final quarter of 2015.

The difference in value between U.K. imports and exports was 2.7 billion pounds ($3.9 billion), the Office for National Statistics said Tuesday, compared with a revised GBP4 billion deficit in November.

The trade gulf narrowed due to a fall in imports, partly driven by a decrease in purchases of non-monetary gold--used as a store of wealth--which isn't representative of real trade in this commodity, government statisticians explained. Meanwhile, exports fell to their lowest level in five months.

Tuesday's figures confirmed that trade had a negative impact on economic growth in the fourth quarter of last year and in 2015 as whole, the ONS said. Despite pledges by the British government to boost the volume of exports, U.K. companies have faced increased hurdles to sell their products abroad in the face of a strong pound and a beleaguered global economy. China's economic slowdown has driven economists to fear global trade will drop even further in 2016.

Exporting to the European Union proved particularly challenging for Britain, official statistics showed, as a cheap euro helped the single currency area's exports but curtailed its imports. U.K. exports of goods to the bloc fell to their lowest in almost 10 years in December, the ONS said, while the trade deficit in goods during the fourth quarter of 2015 was the widest on record.

Nevertheless, Britain's gross domestic product still managed to expand 0.5% between October and December, faster than the third quarter's 0.4% rate of growth, suggesting that healthy consumer spending and robust business investment helped the economy weather emerging market woes. The value of the pound has also fallen since the start of 2016--in January it reached a one-year low compared with a basket of other major currencies, Bank of England data showed--which should be a welcome tailwind for exporters.

"The recent fall in trade-weighted sterling should help exporters in time, but it typically takes quite a while to have a positive effect. In the near term at least, survey evidence suggests that exporters will continue to struggle," analysts at Capital Economics said in a weekly note.

Write to Jon Sindreu at jon.sindreu@wsj.com and Jason Douglas at jason.douglas@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

February 09, 2016 04:51 ET (09:51 GMT)