France PMI Services was finalized at 56.2 in September, down from August’s 56.3. PMI Composite was finalized at 55.3, down from August’s 55.9. Markit said growth ticked down to five-month low, but remained strong. Employment rose at fastest rate for almost three years. Inflationary pressure intensified amid higher staff and material costs.
Joe Hayes, Senior Economist at IHS Markit:
“France’s service sector continued to drive the broader economic recovery in September. Although growth peaked earlier in the summer, services activity growth is still holding fairly close to that level.
“Reading through our panel member comments, it seems that demand is getting ever closer to reaching pre-pandemic levels, which explains why new order growth slowed in September, although some reports indicated that the “pass sanitaire” – which is used to prove members of the public have a low COVID-19 transmission risk – has had some negative impact on demand.
“More positively, however, employment growth accelerated and was close to a three-year high. Firms are shaping up their businesses to be capable of stronger activity growth, which is a clear positive sign as we head into what could potentially be a challenging winter period for Europe, fraught with uncertainty regarding the trajectory of the pandemic and associated challenges, especially in goods supply and price levels.”
