According to yesterday's statements from the Confederation of British Industry (CBI), the number of orders at British enterprises in April declined slightly. At the same time, export orders showed a sharp decline due to global trade tensions.
In March, monthly balance for manufacturing new orders increased from -26 to -29, reached its maximum for last 5 months. However, the export orders index declined from -41 to -29 and hit its lowest level since September 2024.
S&P Global’s survey stated that such changes were caused by the introduction of new tariffs from the US President Donald Trump.
CBI lead economist Ben Jones considers the combination of all the negative factors is leading to reduced confidence of manufacturers and, as a consequence, lower levels of investment, and job cuts.