U.K. manufacturing increased for a second month in June in the best calendar quarter for factory production in more than a decade as the economic recovery strengthened.
Output climbed 0.3 percent from the previous month, when it rose by the same amount, the Office for National Statistics said today in London. The median forecast of 24 economists in a Bloomberg News survey was for an increase of 0.4 percent. Overall industrial production unexpectedly fell due to earlier- than-usual maintenance of oil and gas fields.
Bank of England policy makers yesterday kept their 200 billion-pound ($318 billion) bond stimulus in place and held the benchmark interest rate at a record low. While economic growth accelerated to the fastest in four years in the second quarter, Governor Mervyn King has downplayed the data and said last week that officials must “keep our foot firmly on the accelerator.â€
