Strong pound, weak exports

The strength of sterling continues to hit small businesses, which are experiencing the lowest level of export orders in the last five years, according to the Confederation of British Industry’s latest report on trends among small to medium-sized enterprises. In the last four months, 37 per cent of SME’s reported a fall in export orders compared with 26 per cent in the previous four months. Over the next four months, export orders are expected to fall and expectations are the weakest ever on record, says the report.