Britain's trade gap with the rest of the world in February narrowed sharply from the record high seen in the month before, as exports to the United States bounced back, official figures showed on Thursday. The Office for National Statistics said the goods trade deficit narrowed to 4.25 billion pounds in February from the record 5.45 billion pounds in the month before. Analysts had expected a deficit of 4.6 billon pounds. The improvement was driven by countries outside the European Union, mostly the United States. The non-EU trade gap narrowed to 2.05 billion pounds from 3.36 billion pounds in January Exports to the U.S. surged by 17 percent after falling sharply the month before, seemingly belying the notion that pound's strength against the dollar was dampening demand for British goods in the world's largest economy. The ONS said the rise in exports was driven by chemicals and capital goods. Imports also fell as Britain bought less oil and aircrafts from abroad. The deficit with EU countries widened slightly to 2.2 billion pounds from 2.1 billion pounds in January.///