In the last three months, the manufacturing sector in Britain turned in its best performance in a decade, driven by the strongest pick-up in export orders in 11 years, a key industry report showed on Monday.

The Engineering Employers' Federation (EEF) said its output balance for engineering firms and manufacturers over the past three months surged to 22 from 13 reported in March.

The figure was the highest since the end of 1996, and reflected growth among firms in most sectors and regions, EEF said.

The report said the improvement was driven by strong demand for British goods from abroad, particularly continental European economies, with the balance of export orders rising to 19 in the last three months from 12 -- the highest reading since 1995.

Reports here said the figures reinforced findings from other surveys which had shown similar trends in orders and activity.

But EEF said the Bank of England should not be tempted to raise borrowing costs from their current 4.5 percent, given the risks to the domestic economy.

Source: Xinhua