The pound rose the most in two months versus the dollar this week as manufacturing and production data signaled the U.K. recovery is on track, boosting bets the Bank of England will raise interest rate and is going to nudge higher throughout the course of this month
The pound gained 1 percent this week, Industrial production increased 0.9 percent in February from the previous month and manufacturing output climbed 1 percent.
Growth Estimates
The IMF raised its forecasts for U.K. growth, predicting the economy will grow 2.9 percent in 2014.
Sterling gained 4.4 percent in the past six months, The euro climbed 1.9 percent, while the dollar slid 1 percent.Policy makers kept the benchmark interest rate unchanged at a record-low 0.5 percent at a meeting this week.
Annualized inflation slowed to 1.6 percent in March, from 1.7 percent the month before. The unemployment rate is estimated to 7.1 percent in the three months through February. This may prompt policy makers to consider to raise the interest rate.
Officials said in February there would be scope to maintain record-low rates even after the threshold is reached.
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