The service sector in the United Kingdom increased its activity during the month of December. Analysts recorded that the fastest rate of growth was during the last month of the year compared to the figures in July and is shown in the most recent purchasing managers’ index or PMI.
The PMI for the month of December was at 54.0, a slight increase from 52.1 recorded in November. Any figure that is above 50 shows increase in the sector’s growth.
There was clearly growth in the service sector and analysts attribute it to new orders from Germany, China, and the eastern European region.
However, confidence about the performance of the service sector in 2012 is still abound due to the expectations that people have formed due to the figures in September that showed its lowest rate of growth in 2.5 years.
According to Chris Williamson who authored the report on the PMI, “The December survey rounds off a reasonable fourth quarter for the service sector, which is likely to again provide the main stimulus to overall economic growth.”
According to Vicky Redwood from Capital Economics, “The UK CIPS/Markit report on services has followed the sister manufacturing report in improving in December, but the recovery still appears to have ground to a halt in the fourth quarter of 2011.”
According to Neville Hall from Credit Suisse, “After what looks as if it could be a pretty poor fourth quarter of 2011, as if the economy has regained a bit of momentum going into 2012.”
The UK service sector comprises almost three quarters of the economic output of the country.
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