Hi °C | Lo °C Manufacturers were not as badly hit by the disruption caused by the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations as previously feared, new figures revealed.
The Office for National Statistics (ONS) reported a 2.9% decline compared to the previous month, after production was impacted by an extra bank holiday in June, but this was not as bad as the 4.5% expected in the City.
The better-than-expected figures fuelled hopes that the UK's double-dip recession may not be quite as deep as previously thought, after the ONS's preliminary estimate for second quarter GDP showed a shock 0.7% decline. But economists warned the manufacturing sector still appears to be contracting.
Samuel Tombs, UK economist at Capital Economics, said: "June's industrial figures suggest that the drop in GDP in the second quarter is likely to be revised to a slightly smaller fall. But the figures did not change the overall picture of a struggling sector."
