UK economic growth experiencing slowdown

The forthcoming EU referendum may be having an adverse effect on UK economic growth, a new survey suggests.

Financial data firm Markit’s Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) survey revealed that economic growth during April totalled just 0.1%.

The survey also indicated that the PMI reading for the UK’s services sector fell from 53.7 in March to 52.3 in April. A PMI reading above 50 indicates growth.

Furthermore, during April, the sector grew at its slowest pace in three years.

Business activity also fell to a 38-month low.

Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit, said: ‘Some of the slowdown may be attributable to the early timing of Easter, though April also saw an increase in the number of companies reporting that uncertainty about the EU referendum caused customers to hold back on purchases, exacerbating already-weak demand linked to global growth jitters and ongoing Government spending cuts’.

He continued: ‘The deterioration in April pushes the surveys into territory which has, in the past, seen the Bank of England start to worry about the need to revive growth’.