Britain’s economy grew for a fifth consecutive month in March, according to a closely watched economic indicator, signalling that it has already out of recession.
S&P said that its composite purchasing managers index (PMI), which tracks activity across the economy, achieved a score of 52.9 for March, down 0.1 points on February’s figure. A PMI score above 50 points to growth, while below indicates contraction.
A recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of shrinking gross domestic product. Britain fell into one in the final quarter of last year but S&P chief business economist Chris Williamson said that based on the PMI data so far, the recession is already over.
“A further robust expansion of business activity ended the economy’s best quarter since the second quarter of last year,” he said. “The PMI data are indicative of first quarter GDP rising 0.25 percent to thereby signal a reassuringly solid rebound from the technical recession seen in the second half of 2023.”
Williamson said that economy’s positive PMI score for March can be explained by increased activity in Britain’s powerhouse services sector and manufacturing seeing its fastest rise in new orders in 2 years.
Despite the increase in economic activity, S&P said that its data points to private sector employment stagnating. It said that businesses are cautious about hiring due to strong cost pressures, while at the same time, they are having trouble retaining existing staff and finding replacements.
