Italy’s service sector growth slows for the second month of June

ROME, July 5 (Reuters) – Growth in Italy’s services sector slowed for a second consecutive month in June amid high inflation and faltering demand, a survey showed on Tuesday.

S&P Global’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for services fell to 51.6 in June from 53.7 in May, approaching the 50 mark that separates growth from contraction and posting the most low level since January.

The result was broadly in line with the median forecast of 51.5 in a Reuters survey of 13 analysts.

The sub-index for new business in the services sector came in at 52.3 in June from 54.8 in May.

Italy’s manufacturing PMI, released on Friday, showed the sector grew at its slowest pace in two years in June, as uncertainty over the war in Ukraine weighs on the eurozone’s third-largest economy. Read more

The composite purchasing managers’ index for services and manufacturing came in at 51.3 in June, down from 52.4 in May and the lowest level since January.

Italy’s gross domestic product rose just 0.1% in the first quarter from the previous three months, and Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s government in April revised down its growth forecast for 2022 to 3.1 %, compared to 4.7% last September.

Reporting by Gavin Jones; Editing by Catherine Evans

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