East Midlands leads UK regional business activity growth in January
Staff Writer |
The East Midlands overtook the North West to top the English regions for growth in business activity in the first month of 2018, according to latest Regional PMI data from IHS Markit.
Article continues below
London was meanwhile the most underperforming area and a major cause of an overall slowdown in growth in January.
Business activity in the East Midlands showed the greatest rise for almost three-and-a-half years in January.
The region’s PMI Business Activity Index climbed to 58.8, contrasting with a deterioration in the all-England figure from 55.5 in December to 54.0 – the lowest for 16 months.
A PMI reading above 50.0 signals expansion in business activity, and the further above the 50.0 level the faster the rate of expansion signalled.
In Wales, business activity continued to grow strongly and above the national rate (53.5).
That was despite the country’s PMI dropping from an 11- month high of 59.0 in December to 56.3.
Yorkshire & Humber and the South West completed the top-five positions in January, with rates of output expansion accelerating to two- and fivemonth highs respectively.
It was a contrasting situation for the bottom-ranked region, London, where the PMI eased for the second month running to its lowest level seen since the aftermath of the EU referendum in July 2016, at 51.8.
The South East also lost momentum, with its PMI falling to a 16-month low of 53.2.
All regions saw a rise in private sector employment in January, led by strong rates of job creation in the East of England and North West.
The North East was the laggard in terms of labour market performance, recording only a marginal increase in workforce numbers compared with December.
The latest regional survey data meanwhile revealed broad-based inflationary pressures, driven by sustained strong growth in firms’ input costs.
Wales continued to see the steepest increases in average prices charged for goods and services, closely followed by the North West. ■