The UK’s services sector saw its fastest growth in eight months during April, a survey has indicated.
The Markit/Cips Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) in April was 59.5, up from March’s figure of 58.9. A figure above 50 implies the sector is expanding.
April saw the UK’s fastest growth since August 2014, although prices charged by service sector businesses fell for the first time in six months.
Markit said the services sector had now grown for 28 successive months.
Similar surveys had suggested growth in the manufacturing and construction sectors slowed last month.
Markit chief economist Chris Williamson said that, taken together, the surveys suggested “the economy is showing robust growth momentum, expanding at a rate of 0.8% at the start of the second quarter”.
However, he added: “Rather than rebalancing towards manufacturing, economic growth has become increasingly reliant on the services sector, and the consumer is having to drive growth as investment spending remains disappointingly weak amid heightened political uncertainty.
