Britain’s manufacturers are more upbeat about the state of the global economy than at any time since 2014 and believe demand from overseas will sustain their businesses through another year of Brexit uncertainty, a survey has shown.
The poll by the manufacturers’ organisation EEF and the insurance firm AIG found 40% of the companies questioned were planning for growth in 2018 while 19% were expecting a downturn in their business.
Stronger growth in key export markets is expected to sustain order books, but the survey showed firms remained nervous about the outlook, with the balance of those seeing more risks than opportunities up from 23% in 2017 to 26% in 2018.
Worries about the UK’s planned exit from the EU will continue to dominate in 2018, according to the survey, which was conducted in November before the first phase of Brexit withdrawal negotiations were completed. Concerns were expressed about the effects of rising input costs, loss of staff from the rest of the EU, exchange rate volatility or a disruption in a large market.
via The Guardian
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