Highest confidence since 2007 for the UK’s bullish export firms
EXPORTERS are at their most confident since the financial crisis but will still struggle to reach the government’s steep target for outward trade to reach £1 trillion by 2020, a survey says today.
According to logistics firm DHL and the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), 72 per cent of exporters expect turnover to rise in the first quarter this year, the highest number since the survey began nearly seven years ago.
Over a third of firms that export say they expect to increase their employment levels during the quarter ahead, suggesting both good news for the British balance of trade and for the strengthening labour market.
The responses follow a forecast from the CBI this week, which said that strong export growth and business investment would both make big contributions to growth during this year and next.