Growth of business activity and new orders in the East Midlands remained strong in June, according to the latest Lloyds Bank Regional Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) survey.

While firms continued to face rising costs, inflation eased to the lowest level since July 2016, while average prices charged increased at a rate that was little changed from the previous month, as firms passed on higher input costs to their customers.

Job creation reached a seven-month high, supported by increased new orders and order backlogs. The East Midlands Business Activity PMI fell to 55.4 in June (from 57.9 in May); this signalled solid growth of combined manufacturing and services output that was above the UK average (53.8).