PARIS (Reuters) – Growth in activity in the French services sector slowed in May, due to weak domestic demand, the monthly survey by S&P Global published on Monday showed.
The HCOB PMI index of the most important sector of the French economy fell from 54.6 to 52.8, as announced in the first estimate.
“After several months of continuous strengthening, however, growth has slowed markedly, hampered in particular by the first decline in new business since last January. As a result of this deterioration in demand, the volume of pending business recorded its weakest expansion in May for four months,” said Norman Liebke, an economist at Hamburg Commercial Bank.
“As service providers face challenges, such as rising prices and weaker demand, slower growth or even a contraction in business could occur in the third or fourth quarter,” he said. -he adds.
The composite PMI, which brings together services and manufacturing industry, also fell, to 51.2 after 52.4 in April and 51.4 in “flash” estimate.
(Tassilo Hummel, Laetitia Volga, edited by Blandine Hénault)
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