Gelonghui April 23| France's dominant services industry expanded in April for the first time in nearly a year, a monthly survey showed, helping to offset continued weakness in manufacturing. The initial service industry PMI in April was from 48 in Marchdoublezeroroulettewheel.3 rose to 50.5 in April, the first time since May 2023 that it exceeded the 50-point line. In contrast, the manufacturing PMI fell to 44.9 from 46.2 in March, lower than expected. The composite PMI rose to 49.9 points, higher than expected. Norman Liebke, economist at Commerzbank Hamburg, said: "For the first time since mass protests began to spark negative economic sentiment in May 2023, service sector activity has increased. Due to strong demand in April, the decline in the backlog slowed down from the previous month."doublezeroroulettewheelHe added: French manufacturing output remains sluggish, but is expected to soon follow the trend of the services sector.
