1 Mar 2013

UK manufacturing fall stokes triple-dip fears

Figures showing a shock fall in manufacturing activity last month fuel fears that Britain is heading for a triple-dip recession.

Triple-dip recession looms

The latest Markit/CIPS purchasing managers’ index (PMI) revealed that overall activity contracted as output fell, with a headline reading of 47.9 in February – below the 50 level which separates growth from contraction.

The index slipped into the red for the first time since last November as the UK continued to be battered by poor weather and manufacturers suffered tough conditions both at home and abroad.

Economy downgraded

It comes just days after the economy was downgraded from a triple AAA rating, although the dip in the value of sterling did not initially materialise.

Chris Williamson, chief economist at Markit, said: “The return to contraction of the manufacturing sector is a big surprise and represents a major setback to hopes that the UK economy can return to growth in the first quarter and may avoid a triple-dip recession.

“The data so far this year point to manufacturing output falling by as much as 0.5 per cent, meaning a strong rebound is needed in March to prevent the sector from acting as a drag on the economy as a whole in the first quarter.”

The sector was a significant drag on the wider economy at the end of last year, contributing to the worse-than-expected 0.3 per cent decline in gross domestic product (GDP) in the fourth quarter.

Triple-dip recession

The GDP blow has raised fears that the UK is heading for an unprecedented triple-dip recession if the economy contracts again this quarter.

Today’s disappointing figures will put more pressure on the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee to grow its quantitative easing – or money printing – programme.

The most recent minutes signalled a split in the committee, with Governor Sir Mervyn King and Paul Fisher joining previously lone voice David Miles in calls to restart the printing presses.

Manufacturers said they had shed jobs at the fastest rate for 40 months, with large firms making the biggest cuts as they continued to shed backlogs of work and some reported spare capacity.

David Noble, chief executive of the Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply, said the figures were a “reality check” for the manufacturing sector.

He said: “Of concern is the dearth of encouraging signs for the future. The sector witnessed a fall in new orders at home and a continued lack of demand abroad and, perhaps most ominously, we saw the greatest fall in employment for 40 months.”