The shadow of an unprecedented triple-dip recession, which has hovered over the UK for the past several months, might just be lifting.
According to the latest figures, the UK’s manufacturing and production industries expanded by more-than-predicted in February – easing Britain further away from a second quarter of contraction.
The Pound Sterling Exchange Rate was in the region of 1.1732 against the Euro as of 10:17 am
Reports compiled by the Office for National Statistics have shown that manufacturing increased by 0.8 per cent in February, while production output rose by 1.0 per cent.
The manufacturing result was double the 0.4 per cent gain economists were anticipating. The rise in production output was also more significant than expected.
In its report the ONS stated: ‘All sectors rose during this period – this last happened in July 2012. Despite the increase in production the index is still only, though, the same level as in September 2012.’
The ONS also noted that in comparison with February 2012, production and manufacturing were down by 2.2 per cent and 1.4 per cent respectively.
In response to the figures economist Howard Archer commented: ‘Manufacturing output has been erratic around a weak trend in recent months. Some of January’s sharp drop in manufacturing output was due to activity being hit by the heavy snow that occurred during the month’.
Separate data also showed that the goods-trade gap expanded from 8.17 billion Pounds in January to 9.42 billion Pounds in February after exports dropped by 1.1 per cent and imports increased by 1.7 per cent. The deficit is now the largest recorded since August of last year.
Although the Pound gained against the US Dollar immediately after the reports were published, it later dropped back slightly to trade in the region of 1.5294 US Dollars.
As trade began this morning Sterling fell to a two-week low against the Euro. The GBP/EUR pairing experienced little movement after the data was released.
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