• Prior 57.0
  • Manufacturing PMI 55.5 vs 55.5 expected
  • Prior 55.6
  • Composite PMI 52.7 vs 54.5 expected
  • Prior 55.8

The services and composite readings both fall to nine-month lows as overall activity suffered amid the latest wave of COVID-19 infections. Adding to that is ongoing supply chain issues, which are still persisting rather strongly. Meanwhile, inflation pressures are also still a cause for concern as output prices rose at the fastest pace on record in the latest survey reading.

Markit notes that:

“Given the surging number of daily COVID-19 cases we’ve seen in France, it’s no surprise to see softer PMI numbers in January. In comparison to eurozone peers, France has taken a more lenient approach and stopped short of implementing more stringent measures, enabling growth to be sustained. However, the economic impact was still apparent as staff members isolating due to contracting the virus meant many firms struggled to reach their potential, creating further backlogs of work and leaving orders unfilled.

“Supply chain issues continue to impact the economy, particularly manufacturers, but we do appear to have seen the worst as delivery times lengthened to a far weaker extent than seen during much of 2021. That being said, the inflationary side effects remain in play and are being exacerbated by rising staff costs and energy prices.

“While the start of a new year marks the turning of a new leaf for many, it seems the French economy is still suffering a hangover from the challenges we saw for large parts of 2021.”