UK business confidence improving, surveys report UK business confidence is growing strongly, with investment, exports and profits forecast to grow over the coming months, according to surveys. Reports by Lloyds Banking Group and the EEF employers' organisation suggest that all sectors and sizes of companies are seeing an improvement. Lloyds' external relations head Stephen Pegge told the BBC that confidence was running at its highest for 20 years. The EEF survey said that two-fifths of companies planned to raise investment. Terry Scuoler, chief executive of the EEF, said: "Manufacturers are telling us they expect to make a greater contribution to growth, investment and jobs this year." However, companies reported that rising energy costs remained a worry. Both surveys pointed to a better picture for exports, with Mr Pegge saying that strengthening economies in Africa were becoming an increasingly important market. Meanwhile, a third survey has found that UK finance directors say their appetite for risk has returned, with easier access to bank lending likely to mean they will expand and hire more staff in 2014. The survey of 122 chief financial officers from business services group Deloitte found that bank borrowing was now the most attractive source of funding, the first time they have said that since the financial crisis began. The improvement in confidence across UK business comes as Chancellor George Osborne is expected to say in a speech later on Monday that 2014 will be "the year of hard truths" with more "painful cuts" needed to put the economy on a sustainable footing.