The private sector in France experienced a slightly stronger expansion in September than in August, thanks to new business in the services sector, according to a provisional estimate made this Friday by the firm S&P Global.
The Flash PMI composite index that summarizes this growth rose to 51.2 points, compared to 50.4 in August, a figure above the threshold of 50 points that indicates an expansion of activity, while a value below this limit signals a contraction. Data compiled by S&P Global from a representative panel of 750 companies “highlights a slight acceleration in growth in the French private sector at the end of the third quarter,” according to a press release from the firm.
An increase that is based “exclusively on services”
“Global activity, however, only increased slightly, as the marginal increase seen in September was based exclusively on the service sector,” he adds. Services hit a 16-month low in August and providers saw a surge in new business in September. On the other hand, in the manufacturing sector “the contraction has deepened” due to inflation, excess inventories and the drop in demand. The Flash index for this sector entered a contraction zone, falling to 43.4 points in September, its lowest level in 28 months, from 46.6 points in August.
Quoted in the statement, S&P Global economist Joe Hayes also points to “increasing economic uncertainty” that has affected the manufacturing sector, with companies surveyed now attributing inflationary pressures more to rising energy costs and wages than to supply problems. .
The scope of the slowdown in the manufacturing sector also raises fears of “an imminent generalization of the contraction to the entire private sector”, which means that “the risks of an economic recession have increased in French territory”, Joe Hayes affirms again.
Source: BFM TV
