UK manufacturing output fell more than expected in March, the month in which the Iraq war was launched, led by electrical and optical equipment, official data showed today.
The latest data from the Office for National Statistics suggested the economy may have grown more sluggishly in the first quarter than previously thought and highlight the Bank of England's dilemma over interest rates.
The BoE resisted industry calls to shore up weak economic growth with lower borrowing costs and analysts said it was concerned about the near 10 per cent fall in the pound's value so far this year, which could boost import prices and therefore inflation.
British interest rates are currently at a 48-year low of 3.75 per cent.
The ONS reported a 0.4 per cent fall in manufacturing output in March, bigger than the 0.2 per cent analysts had expected and the worst performance since last October. It also revised down the February rise - which came as a surprise at the time - to just 0.1 per cent.
Within manufacturing, 10 of the 13 subsectors fell on the month. The biggest drop came from electrical and optical equipment industries where output fell by 2.6 per cent on the month. Computer output fell 5.6 per cent on the month.