A surprise surge in overseas demand for British-made goods lifted export order books to their highest level in more than a decade, new figures showed today.

The Bank of England is widely expected to keep the cost of borrowing on hold this month with economist predicting it will put off cutting rates until later this year.

THE Bank of England is expected to freeze interest rates at 4.75% this week after business and consumer confidence failed to recover after the general election.

A surge in petrol costs is likely to have fuelled a small rise in British inflation last month, experts believe.

The British economy, Europe’s second-largest, may outpace the euro region for a fifth year in 2004, suggesting the central bank will raise interest rates more quickly than its European counterpart, surveys of economists showed.

ONE elephant will never forget the unorthodox wedding ceremony in which it participated in a Co Cork park yesterday.

BRITISH inflation remained above its 2.5% target for the third month in a row in January, but this is unlikely to prevent the Bank of England cutting interest rates again if growth takes a turn for the worse.