February 2014
Featured in this insight: Financial services, Consumer goods & FMCG , Retail
UK service sector slows but remains strong, PMI survey says: The latest CIPS/Markit Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for the UK’s service sector fell to 58.3 in January, down from 58.8 the month before but still well above the 50 mark that indicates expansion.
The PMI figure for January was the lowest reading since June last year, but the survey also found that business confidence was at its highest level for nearly four years. Rising confidence and a backlog of orders meant that employment growth in the sector has “remained marked”.
Recent PMI surveys of both the manufacturing and construction sectors have also indicated that economic growth remained strong last month.
Markit said that taken together, the three PMI surveys suggest that the UK economy will grow by 0.8% in the first quarter of the year. This would be an increase on the rate of 0.7% in the final three months of 2013.
Chris Williamson, Chief Economist at Markit, said:
"The service sector saw another month of strong growth in January, suggesting that the UK economy continues to recover at a rapid pace… Although the pace of expansion slowed, we must remember that growth was exceptionally strong in previous months, and also that parts of the country saw record rainfall in January."
