Growth across the UK’s service industry dropped sharply last month as rising inflation hampered customer demand.
- The headline S&P Global/CIPS UK Services PMI plunged to 53.4 in May, down from 58.9 in April, the slowest rise in output volumes. But, it is better than the flash reading of 51.8 taken during May.
- Meanwhile, travel, leisure and entertainment was the main exception, with hospitality businesses posting strong consumer demand for the removal of pandemic restrictions.
- Services firms reported the weakest growth since February last year, when businesses were locked down in the pandemic.
Many companies posted that concerns about the economic outlook and increased risk aversion hurt customer demand.
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Source: S&P Global.