The French economy continued to grow in May, but at a slower pace than the previous month due to the slowdown in the services sector, according to the provisional PMI index published on Tuesday by the S&P Global agency.
The Flash Composite Index, which measures private sector activity, came in at 51.4 in May, down from a revised reading of 52.4 in April, a four-month low. A value above 50 means expansion, while a value below this limit means contraction.
The increase in activity marked a time in May (52.8 compared to 54.6 in April) in the services sector, which largely supports the French economy, due to lower demand.
New drop in manufacturing production
“New business fell for the first time in three months in May, while prices paid inflation and prices invoiced inflation remained at high levels, this despite a slowdown for the former while the latter slowed more stronger than in April,” he said. Norman Liebke, an economist at Hamburg Commercial Bank, which publishes the index with S&P Global.
Unlike services, whose activity remained in positive territory, manufacturing production continued to fall for the twelfth consecutive month, penalized by new orders and falls in export sales, according to the survey carried out on a representative panel of 750 companies.
The Flash PMI manufacturing production index reached 45.1 in May, although at a slower pace than in April (42.2). That of the manufacturing industry recovered to 46.1 in May after reaching 45.6 the previous month. However, in services such as the manufacturing sector, companies have further strengthened their workforce, which has allowed employment to show “its highest growth in almost a year in the French private sector”, according to S&P Global.
Source: BFM TV
