Profits taken by overseas companies and insurance claims from Hurricane Katrina sent the UK's current account deficit to a record high yesterday.
The outflow of funds meant the balance of payments for the third quarter widened to £10.2bn, from £1.4bn in the previous three months.
The figure was the highest cash deficit since records began in 1955 and represented 3.4 per cent of GDP, the highest since the end of 2000.
Economists had been braced for the negative impact of hurricane claims within the insurance market - such as Lloyd's of London - but said the extent of earnings made by overseas companies in the UK was more of a surprise.
In particular, oil firms benefited from higher prices while foreign investors banking improved dividends from UK companies also caused the gap to widen.
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