Agents' Summary of Business Conditions - July 2011

• The rate of growth of nominal spending on consumer goods and services remained sluggish.
• Activity in the housing market had softened in recent weeks.
• Overall, investment intentions continued to increase, although some firms had become a little more cautious.
• The rate of export growth remained strong. More firms had begun to switch resources from domestic to export marketing.
• Manufacturing output continued to grow, although more slowly for domestic markets than for export.
• Steady growth in output in the business services sector was also continuing.
• The level of construction output continued to rise very slowly but remained well below pre-recession levels.
• Employment intentions indicated continuing job creation in the private sector in aggregate, though prospects in the consumer services sector were poor.
• The degree of capacity utilisation continued to increase gradually, with slack more evident in services than manufacturing.
• Growth in labour costs remained modest.
• Increases in the cost of raw materials showed signs of moderating, but contacts were concerned by prospects for energy prices.
• Inflation in the cost of imported finished goods was thought likely to persist somewhat longer than that of raw materials.
• Transmission from higher costs to output prices remained limited, putting pressure on firms’ margins.
• The rate of inflation for consumer goods and services remained high.

Agents' summary of business conditions - July 2011

• Agents' scores (xlsx)
• Definitions for the Agents’ scores
• Response to consultation on changes to Agents' scores