LONDON, June 1 (Xinhua) -- The poor performance of the British economy in the first quarter of the year looks to have been reversed, according to data for the manufacturing sector released on Friday.
May's Markit/CIPS manufacturing sector survey suggests that the sector is putting in a strong performance in the second quarter, with the purchasing managers' index (PMI) beating consensus expectations of a fall among experts and commentators to record a rise from 53.9 to 54.4 (above 50 indicates growth).
The continued solid global demand for goods and sterling's post-Brexit referendum 20 percent devaluation at the hands of markets look to still be factors boosting the sector, with the new export order balance picking up from 53.4 to 54.2.
This left the index only a little below its average over 2017 as a whole. The rise in the output index contained in the data, which went up from 55.4 to 56.9, leaves the index consistent with quarterly growth of 1 percent in May.
This would translate into a 0.1 percentage point boost for the overall economic figures, an increase of a half on the almost-stagnant growth in the economy of 0.2 percent seen in the revised official figures for the economy released last week.
Ruth Gregory, British economist at Capital Economics, a financial data firm, told Xinhua: "The sector is putting in a strong performance in Q2, after the poor start to the year."
"Alongside the signs that a revival in the consumer sector is underway; the figures provide us with reassurance that the weakness in GDP growth in the first quarter should prove temporary."
However, there were headwinds visible in the figures
Gregory noted the data showed that the pipeline of unfinished work had become smaller and that stocks of finished goods rose sharply which "suggested there is no real pressure on firms to increase output in the near term."
In addition, the input prices balance rose from 62.5 to 65.7, driven by the recent rise in global oil prices.
"This will clearly put more pressure on firms to raise their output prices which could dampen demand for manufacturing goods ahead," she said.
