According to a survey presented on Friday by the global financial and economic data services group S&P and the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply (CIPS), an institute that measures the purchasing activity of the British corporate sector. The seasonally adjusted composite PMI for British manufacturing and services reached 54.1 in April after 52.8 in March.
The composite body mass index last month was the highest since last April.
BMI indices above 50 indicate a recovery in activity of the sectors examined, i.e. the final composite figure for April of 54.1 – slightly better than the initial estimate provided at the end of last month – It shows strong and accelerating growth in the performance of the British business sector.
Standard & Poor's Ratings also confirms that the Composite BMI remained in the range above 50 for the sixth month in a row, indicating increased activity of the British private business sector.
Within composite data The service sector activity index, which produces 80 percent of British GDP, reached 55 in April after 53.1 in March.
However, the BMI for the British manufacturing sector fell in April from a level of 50.3 in March, indicating a minimum growth rate, to a range indicating a decline: the S&P Global/CIPS survey indicated a manufacturing index of 48.7 for the past month.
Commenting on the BMI survey in April, Tim Moore, economic director of S&P Global, stressed at the same time: From the new survey, we can conclude that
The British GDP is currently growing at a quarterly rate of 0.4 percent, which means that the recovery of the British economy from the shallow recession witnessed last year is continuing.
According to calculations by the British Office of Statistics (ONS), British GDP fell by 0.1 percent in the third quarter of last year and by 0.3 percent in the fourth quarter, thus ending Great Britain – the largest European economy outside the European Union – last in a year of technical recession. According to the agreed upon definition, a recession occurs when GDP declines in two consecutive quarters.
Meanwhile, Andrew Bailey, Governor of the Bank of England, told a House of Commons Finance Committee hearing 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 the past was “very shallow… “Anyway” is already over.
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