BERLIN (Reuters), Germany’s recovery following the COVID-19 epidemic slowed in September. The survey revealed that activity in the services and manufacturing sectors slowed due to supply shortages and waning catchup effects.

IHS Markit’s flash Purchasing managers’ index (PMI), showed that growth in the manufacturing sector slowed from 62.6 to 58.5 in August. This is an 8-month low. From 60.8 in August, the subindex covering services fell to 56.0.

The flash composite PMI (which tracks both the services and manufacturing sectors, together accounting for over two-thirds in the German economy) fell to a seven month low at 55.3, from 60.8 in August.

Phil Smith from IHS Markit stated that the survey data indicated that business activity had begun to plateau after recovering sharply in the summer.

Smith said that despite September’s slowdown, economic growth for the third quarter looks to have exceeded the 1.6% increase in three months prior to June.

Smith stated that while companies were optimistic about their businesses’ outlook, with hopes of a quick recovery from the pandemic, they still had concerns over supply chain issues and increased demand risks.

Wednesday’s 2.5% reduction in growth for Europe’s largest economy was announced by the Ifo institute. It cited supply chain disruptions as well as a shortage of intermediate goods, which are all slowing down industrial production.