Growth slowed in the British service industry in December, according to the latest survey from financial data firm Markit.

The Markit/CIPS UK services purchasing managers’ index moved down 0.4 points to 55.5 last month, from 55.9 in November. Any figure above 50 indicates growth. Markit also decreased its estimate of fourth-quarter GDP growth to 0.5 percent, down from 0.6 percent a month ago.

Chris Williamson, Markit’s chief economist, said: “The services sector remained the key driver of the UK’s economic upturn in December, helping to offset the recent weakness seen in manufacturing and putting the economy on the starting block for another year of 2 to 2.5% growth in 2016.”

06/01/2016