The manufacturing sector has enjoyed a surprise return to growth for the first time in more than a year.

Revised figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show the downturn for manufacturers came to an end in March, with a 0.2 per cent rise in month-on-month output.

And better-than-expected figures for April, which have just been released, indicate the sector maintained the same rate of growth the following month.

It is the first time manufacturers have seen their fortunes improve month-on-month since February 2008. Although boosted somewhat by the weak pound, they have been badly affected by a sharp fall in demand and tight credit conditions.

The latest figures come amid other encouraging survey data for the rest of the economy.

Jonathan Loynes, of Capital Economics, said the ONS stats provide a "decent platform" for wider growth in the second quarter of the year.

He added the figures bring "further evidence that the twin impacts on the industrial sector of very weak external demand and falling inventories are starting to fade".

But ONS officials stressed manufacturing output between February and April was still 13.2 per cent lower than in the same period a year earlier.

Industrial production as a whole, which includes the energy and mining sectors, was 12.6 per cent behind the same three month period in 2008.

Last week some economists predicted an end to the UK slump within months after data showed the services sector - which makes up three-quarters of the economy - had itself grown for the first time in over a year.

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