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The
Confederation for British Industry's survey, published on
Monday, underscored how the decision to leave the European Union
has so failed to hurt the country's economy - although an
inflation challenge is growing quickly.
The CBI said its total order book balance improved to +8 from +5
in January, well above its long-run average of -15 and better
than a median forecast in a Reuters poll of economists for a
fall to +3.
"Stronger demand and production is good news for UK
manufacturers, though the weaker pound continues to push up
input costs," CBI chief economist Rain Newton-Smith said. "This
is now feeding through to output price inflation expectations."
Export orders, which have been helped by the fall in the value
of the pound, were roughly stable at -10, better than their
long-standing average.
But a measure of how manufacturers expect to change their prices
over the next three months rose further to hit its highest level
since April 2011, the CBI said.
Britain's consumers, rather than its manufacturers, were
responsible for the stronger-than-expected reaction of the
country's economy last year to the Brexit vote.
However, data published on Friday showed shoppers reined in
their spending in January as prices rose following the fall in
the value of the pound since the June referendum decision to
leave the European Union.
(Editing by Andy Bruce)
((+44 20 7542 7748; uk.economics@reuters.com)
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