Posted January 5, 2023, 10:59 am
LONDON, Jan 4 (Reuters) – Britain’s services sector ended 2022 on a gloomy note with falling new orders and employment, final results from the monthly S&P survey showed on Thursday. Global from procurement chiefs suggesting the UK economy has already entered recession.
The PMI sector index for December was revised up to 49.9 against a figure of 50 announced in the first estimate, this threshold separating expansion and contraction in activity.
Compared to November, when the services PMI came in at 48.8, the December data shows an improvement. But the new orders sub-index showed a second straight month of decline, while the employment component fell to the lowest level since February 2021.
“UK service providers ended the year with a further decline in new orders as strong inflationary pressures and concerns about the economic outlook weighed on demand,” said Tim Moore, chief economist at S&P Global.
The S&P Global survey published on Tuesday on the manufacturing sector alone showed that UK activity in December recorded one of its sharpest declines since the 2008-2009 recession due to a sharp drop in new orders and job cuts.
The composite PMI, which combines services and manufacturing, also remained in the red in December at 49.0 after 48.2 in November.
The latest Reuters poll of economists predicts a 0.9% contraction in the UK economy in 2023. (Reporting Andy Bruce; French version Claude Chendjou; Editing by Blandine Hénault)