July 24 2014.


With private-sector output growth maintaining a healthy pace, the recovery is showing little sign of slowing down, according to the latest CBI growth indicator.

This comes as official figures published tomorrow are expected to confirm that GDP has surpassed its pre-recession peak. The survey of 790 respondents across the manufacturing, retail and service sectors again registered strong growth, with a balance of +29%, the same as last month’s survey. Expectations for growth in the next quarter are also robust, with a balance of +37% of respondents reporting that output will increase further in the three months ahead.

In the quarter to July, output volumes in the manufacturing sector grew at the strongest pace for five months. Business and professional and consumer services have also maintained solid growth recently, and retail sales volumes rose firmly on a year ago in July.

Katja Hall, CBI Deputy Director-General, said: “The recovery shows little sign of slowing and it’s looking likely that GDP has surpassed its pre-crisis peak.

“There are signals that the recovery may now be on a more sustainable footing, with growth becoming more broad-based as business investment in particular grows strongly.

“But there are still long-standing issues around boosting exports, while disappointing productivity could impact wages and household spending. Firms will also be carefully monitoring the situation in Ukraine and parts of the Middle East, where political volatility is likely to make the global economic environment that bit tougher.”