February saw a "sharp and accelerated" increase in business activity across the North West, the latest Regional PMI data from NatWest has revealed.
The headline North West Business Activity Index – a seasonally adjusted index that measures the month-on-month change in the combined output of the region’s manufacturing and service sectors – jumped from an 11-month low of 50.8 in January to 56.7, its highest since last November.
Growth in the region was broad-based across both the manufacturing and service sector, although, overall, it was slower than the average across the UK as a whole, the bank added.
