New surveys indicate economic improvement

The economy in the UK is showing signs of improvement, the results of two new surveys by industry bodies have suggested.

Research from manufacturers’ organisation the EEF - produced in partnership with BDO - has revealed that businesses saw a larger-than-expected increase in production and orders received during the last three months, while job losses have continued to be reduced.

As a result, firms are now more confident about their future prospects, with 27 per cent seeing output higher during the coming quarter.

And the latest figures from the CBI were also positive, with companies operating in the services sector seeing volumes stabilise throughout the last three months, while the value and amount of trade carried out in the consumer services sector saw a slight increase.

Chief economic adviser at the CBI Ian McCafferty said that the findings ’are consistent with our view that the economy is recovering slowly’, while chief economist at the EEF Lee Hopley noted that the beginning of this year has been ’better than expected’ after the economy came out of recession at the end of 2009.ADNFCR-2318-ID-19642694-ADNFCR