Agents' Summary of Business Conditions
What is the Agents' Summary?
This publication is a summary of monthly reports compiled by the Bank of England's Agents, following discussions with around 700 businesses. It provides information on the state of business conditions, from firms across all sectors of the economy. The report does not represent the Bank's own views, nor does it represent the views of any particular firm or region.
Agents' Scores
In addition to the monthly reports, each month the Bank’s
twelve Agents make quantitative assessments of economic conditions
as seen from their respective countries and regions. These scores
provide numerical measures of the intelligence that the Agents
gather from month to month, and cover some areas of the economy
where there are no official statistics. The scores are also
timely and some have a high correlation with subsequently published
ONS data. As such, they can be useful indicators of the current
economic conjuncture. The scores are discussed in more detail
in a Quarterly Bulletin article, available
in Key Resources below.
How is it used?
The Bank's Monetary Policy Committee uses the intelligence provided by the Agents, in conjunction with information from other sources, to assist its understanding and assessment of current economic conditions.
Where are the Agencies?
The Bank of England has Agencies for Central Southern England, the East Midlands, Greater London, the North East, the North West, Northern Ireland, Scotland, the South East & East Anglia, the South West, Wales, the West Midlands and Yorkshire & the Humber. The Bank's assessment of current monetary and economic conditions, and the outlook for inflation, are contained in the Inflation Report.
| 2008 | |
| November Download PDF  (308k) |
|
| September Download PDF (287k) |
October Download PDF (437k) |
| July Download PDF (328k) |
August Download PDF (294k) |
| May Download PDF (348k) |
June Download PDF (376k) |
| March Download PDF (441k) |
April Download PDF (466k) |
| January Download PDF (419k) |
February Download PDF (436k) |
| 2007 | |
| November Download PDF (355k) |
December Download PDF (410k) |
| September Download PDF (318k) |
October Download PDF (345k) |
| July Download PDF (281k) |
August Download PDF (323k) |
| May Download PDF (315k) |
June Download PDF (309k) |
| March Download PDF (277k) |
April Download PDF (299k) |
| January Download PDF (291k) |
February Download PDF (320k) |
| 2006 | |
| November Download PDF (296k) |
December Download PDF (329k) |
| September Download PDF (301k) |
October Download PDF (308k) |
| July Download PDF (210k) |
August Download PDF (303k) |
| May Download PDF (215k) |
June Download PDF (222k) |
| March Download PDF (211k) |
April Download PDF (208k) |
| January Download PDF (185k) |
February Download PDF (221k) |
| 2005 | |
| November Download PDF (165k) |
December Download PDF (165k) |
| September Download PDF (141k) |
October Download PDF (160k) |
| July Download PDF (158k) |
August Download PDF (163k) |
| May Download PDF (121k) |
June Download PDF (88k) |
| March Download PDF (73k) |
April Download PDF (70k) |
| January Download PDF (61k) |
February Download PDF (63k) |
Key Resources
|
Introducing the Agents' Scores |
 |
Bank of England Agents' Scores Download Excel Spreadsheet |
|
Definitions for the Agents' Scores Download PDF |
