London leads the UK’s economic expansion
London's economic growth is outpacing the rest of the UK, according to new survey figures published this morning.
Lloyds Bank’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI) – compiled from a survey of businesses – scored 56.9 for the capital. Scores above 50 signal growth.
The second and third fastest growing regions were the East and South East while the two slowest regions were Scotland and Yorkshire.
Scotland’s PMI was 50.3, suggesting that economic activity hardly changed from November to December. The UK average, which is derived from over 1200 responses, was 55.3, down slightly on November’s score of 55.7.
“The UK economy ended 2015 on a relatively positive note, with December seeing the continuation of solid growth of both business activity and employment,” said Tim Hinton, a managing director at Lloyds Banking Group.
“The global economy is looking fragile and full of uncertainty, but with new business orders on the rise and inflationary pressures remaining largely subdued, growth prospects remain positive at the start of 2016.”
Following the results of a similar survey from Markit, economists expect growth to have picked up in the final three months of the year, though only slightly. It expanded 0.4 per cent between June and September.
The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics show that growth in output per person was highest in London in 2014, where it increased 5.3 per cent on the year before.