The new Business Activity Index for Yorkshire and the Humber shows that July brought a rise in the levels of activity within the private sector, but that the pace of this growth is slowing down.

This report is published by NatWest every month, and it looks at the business situation across all regions of the UK, with its findings based on the service and manufacturing sector outputs for each of them. Its July results for Yorkshire and the Humber show activity levels of 59, compared with 64.5 for the month before, indicating that growth continued, but at a slower rate.

Despite this slowdown, the NatWest North Regional Board Chairman, Richard Topliss, pointed out that business activity growth for the region had remained strong and in line with that of the rest of the country.

Among the reasons that were given for the slowing down of activity growth were financial strain caused by price inflation and rising running costs. Accountants in Goole can help local firms find options for dealing with these issues.

There were plenty of positive indicators in the report, however, with firms in the Yorkshire and Humber region seeing a rise in new business – largely due to the hospitality sector reopening. Employment levels also rose strongly during the month.

Speaking to Business Live, Topliss said:

“The Yorkshire and Humber PMI lost some momentum during July, but that shouldn’t take away from an otherwise strong month of data.”

Topliss added that the rate of business growth for the region was still in excess of the historical average.