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The global economy expanded for a twenty-second straight month* in April, according to the JPMorgan Global PMI™ (compiled by S&P Global), though the rate of growth eased to the slowest in the current sequence amid a steep downturn in China.

While global service sector business activity remained in expansion, supported by stronger consumer spending amid the easing of global COVID-19 containment measures, manufacturing output recorded its first contraction since June 2020 on the back of supply woes. Steep contractions, particularly in Russia and mainland China, played the key roles in weighing on global growth. This was despite better output performance in other emerging economies such as India and Brazil, while developed economies including the US, eurozone and UK generally maintained strong growth paces, benefitting from reduced pandemic containment measures.

As a result of the Ukraine war and lockdowns in China, issues with supply chains and inflation worsened at the start of Q2. Average supplier delivery times lengthened at a rate exceeded only once in the history of the PMI surveys, outlining the supply woes which were aggravated especially by the lockdowns in China. In turn, inflationary pressures soared with global input prices across manufacturing and services rising globally at the fastest rate since mid-2008 while average selling prices for goods and services rose at a survey record rate. All of which continues to support policy tightening by central banks, albeit at a time when demand growth continues to wane.

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Purchasing Managers' Index™ (PMI™) data are compiled by IHS Markit for more than 40 economies worldwide. The monthly data are derived from surveys of senior executives at private sector companies, and are available only via subscription. The PMI dataset features a headline number, which indicates the overall health of an economy, and sub-indices, which provide insights into other key economic drivers such as GDP, inflation, exports, capacity utilization, employment and inventories. The PMI data are used by financial and corporate professionals to better understand where economies and markets are headed, and to uncover opportunities.

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This article was published by S&P Global Market Intelligence and not by S&P Global Ratings, which is a separately managed division of S&P Global.