Katie Atkin For the second month running Yorkshire and the Humber has sustained the title for the best private sector business activity of all twelve UK regions. Based on the PMI (an average of the purchasing managers’ index) of 57.2 in December, previously 54.2 in November. Any figure above fifty means growth within the PMI.
Due to Yorkshire’s and the Humber’s service sector the increase in growth of the PMI has been the fastest increase since March 2011.
There has been a slight decline in input prices within this region, although expenses are continuing to rise for service firms this is being levelled out as input prices are falling for manufacturers. Due to these findings Yorkshire and the Humber have become the 3rd in the region for business growth – the main reason being lessening orders within manufacturing.
These figures have been collated by a survey undergone by purchasing managers of Lloyds TSB and Markit. A representative of Lloyds TSB, John Maltby (Group Director at Lloyds TSB Commercial) comments on these statistics “While the latest survey shows that businesses are moving in the right direction across the English regions, the uncertain global economic outlook remains a drag on both business and consumer spending.”
The average PMI for UK business activity in December was 53.2 (a subtle increase from the month prior which was 51.1). The results of the survey showed how December was the month that saw private sector business activity rise across all the nine of the English regions.
