MANUFACTURERS received a boost from official figures showing a better than expected recovery in factory output levels.

The sector, seen as a drag on the UK economy following disappointing figures in recent months, showed a 0.9 per cent rise in output between March and April.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said there had been widespread improvements across manufacturing, with increases in output of 2.6 per cent in the chemicals sector and 2.8 per cent in machinery and equipment.

Revisions by the ONS also improved the downbeat picture for the first three months of the year, with output in March now unchanged on a month earlier, against the previously stated 0.3 per cent decline.

That brings the ONS more in line with other recent surveys, which showed the manufacturing sector performing better than official figures.

A survey by the Engineering Employers Federation, published on Tuesday, showed the biggest upturn in orders since 1996.

Analysts said the revisions and the latest output data from the ONS paved the way for the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) to raise interest rates at its latest two-day meeting, which ends today.

The output revisions could also result in a similar upgrade to the UK's first quarter GDP figures.

Meanwhile, separate data showed a worse than expected position for the UK trade deficit following a widening to £4.7bn in April from £4.2bn a month earlier.

The fall was driven in part by a rare deficit in the oil sector as the UK imported more than it exported during April.

The ONS said the UK deficit with non-EU countries widened to £2.5bn while the figure for EU countries edged higher to £2.2bn.