A recession is looking extremely likely as the UK's private sector has taken a bigger hit than expected this month, with new data showing it's hit its worst performance since lockdown in early 2021. New data shows that the S&P Global/CIPS flash UK purchasing managers' index has dropped to 46.8 in September, down from 48.6 in August. The Bank of England tracked interest rates, among other things, when setting interest rates. It works by assigning a score to a sector, with any score below 50 thought to show contraction. The faster the decrease is away from 50, the faster it will be. The private sector was expected to continue to contract but not by this much, economists said.
Although the manufacturing sector is struggling more than the services sector, the gap narrowed this month. S&P's Chris Williamson, chief business economist, said: The disappointing PMI survey results for September mean a recession is looking increasingly likely in the UK.
September's decline is the steepest since the global financial crisis in early 2009 barring only the pandemic lockdown months.