The CBI's quarterly industrial trends survey found the majority of companies said their order books were below normal. Threatening to pile more pressure on squeezed households, the survey also found that manufacturers plan to raise prices sharply over the next three months ? adding to inflation fears.
Manufacturing has been one of the few bright points in the UK economy, with strong export growth driven by the weak pound. However, the balance of companies to have experienced a fall in orders below normal was -11, a drop from +5 in March.
Andrew Sentance, a member of the Bank's rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee, said: "Such early estimates of GDP need to be interpreted alongside other evidence we already have about the performance of the economy."
Mr Sentance has been voting to raise rates from 0.5pc to 1pc and reiterated his fears that the Bank's "credibility and commitment to the [2pc] inflation target may have been eroded by not adjusting policy settings soon enough".
This morning, before the figures were released, he told BBC Radio Manchester that the GDP figures were likely to show the economy was continuing to recover.
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