June 2014
Featured in this insight: Business & enterprise, Financial services
UK business growth the highest it’s been in over 10 years: A survey, conducted by the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), has shown that UK business growth is in a very healthy place.
CBI’s research was done on 726 UK firms and indicated the strongest rate of growth since the poll began over 10 years ago.
Growth expansion in May was the best it has been since 2003, and was significantly up from April’s figures.
As a result, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has increased its predicted growth forecast by one tenth – from 2.8% to 3.1%.
The BCC has also upped its 2015 projection to 2.7%, from its previous estimate of 2.5%. Continued expansion is anticipated in 2016 too, with a further 2.5% increase expected.
After business growth of 0.8% in the first three months of 2014 alone, continued development is expected in the current quarter.
Katja Hall, deputy director-general at CBI, put the country’s strong economic state down to rising business and consumer confidence, better credit conditions at home and improving global economic conditions.
Hall added: "What's encouraging is that growth is becoming more broad-based, with solid increases in business investment over the past year. This bodes well for the year ahead.”
In contrast, fears of rising living costs, interest rates and energy bills came out on top in a separate consumer survey by Markit highlighting householders’ concerns.
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