#Fantastic #numbers #British #economy
According to a survey presented on Friday by the S&P Global financial and economic data service group and the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply, CIPS, an institute that measures the purchasing activity of the British corporate sector the seasonally adjusted composite Purchasing Managers’ Index (BMI) for British manufacturing and services was 54.1 in April after 52.8 in March.
Last month’s composite BMI index was the highest since last April.
BMI indices above 50 indicate a pick-up in the activity of the examined sectors, i.e. the final April composite figure of 54.1 – which is slightly better than the preliminary estimate presented at the end of last month – shows robust and accelerating growth in the performance of the British business sector.
S&P Global Ratings also emphasizes that the composite BMI indicator has been in the range above 50 for the sixth consecutive month, showing the increasing activity of the British business private sector.
Within the composite data the activity index of the service sector, which produces 80 percent of the British gross domestic product (GDP), was 55 in April after 53.1 in March.
However, the BMI index of the British manufacturing sector in April fell from the level of 50.3 in March, indicating a minimal growth rate, to the range indicating a decline: the S&P Global/CIPS survey indicated a manufacturing index of 48.7 for last month.
Commenting on the BMI survey in April, Tim Moore, the economic director of S&P Global, emphasized at the same time: from the new survey, it can be concluded that
the British gross domestic product is currently growing at a quarterly rate of 0.4 percent, meaning that the recovery of the British economy from last year’s shallow recession is continuing.
According to the calculations of the British Statistical Office (ONS), the British GDP decreased by 0.1 percent in the third quarter of last year and by 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter, and thus Great Britain – the largest European economy outside the EU – ended the past in a technical recession. year. According to the consensus definition, a recession occurs when the gross domestic product falls in two consecutive quarters.
At the same time, Andrew Bailey, the governor of the Bank of England, already stated at the hearing of the finance committee of the House of Commons in London a few weeks ago: there are clear signs that the recession in the British economy in the second half of 2023, which in historical retrospect was “very shallow anyway” has already ended.
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