Business Activity Growth in Wales Picks up in May

Business Activity Growth in Wales Picks up in May

Business activity across Wales increased for the tenth consecutive month in May, though costs continued to put pressure on businesses as input prices rose for the nineteenth month running.

The Wales PMI was 55.0 last month, up from 53.6 in April, with the rate of growth outstripping the UK average. A reading above 50 signals expansion, and a reading below indicates decline.

The increase in the rate of expansion was partly due to a stronger rise in new orders, which grew for the tenth successive month.

Companies across Wales continued to create new jobs to cope with this rise in client demand, with workforce numbers increasing for the fifteenth consecutive month.

However, input costs – such as the price of raw materials and wages – continued to put pressure on firms, which then passed these on to customers in the form of higher prices.

The Lloyds Bank PMI, or purchasing managers’ index, is the leading economic health-check of UK regions. It is based on responses from manufacturers and services businesses about the volume of goods and services produced during May compared with a month earlier.

Allan Griffiths, regional director for Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking in Wales, said: