LONDON, (Reuters) – Growth in British business fell sharply in May, to the lowest level since the early 2021 COVID-19 lockdown. However, the survey found that the impact on momentum was much less than originally reported.

The composite S&P Global/CIPS Purchasing Managers Index – spanning services and manufacturing firms – slumped to 53.1 from 58.2 in April, the lowest since February 2021, as Britain’s economy felt the hit from accelerating inflation.

This reading was an improvement over the 51.8 initial flash reading.

PMI for dominant services fell from 58.9 to 53.4 in April, to mark its largest monthly fall since 1996. The flash reading however was at 51.8.

Tim Moore, economics director at S&P Global (NYSE:) Market Intelligence, said May’s figures painted a picture of slower growth and higher prices across the services sector with input and output costs rising by the most since records began in 1996.

Moore noted that “there were some bright spots in customer-facing sections of the economy during May,” Moore explained. Moore stated that Moore was encouraged by consumer spending increases on leisure and travel.

“But, the majority of hospitality businesses reported challenges in recovery due to a shortage of candidates for vacancies and difficulties meeting demands as a consequence to global supply chain disruption.”

Fears of further price inflation due to the labor market and COVID-19 China lockdowns are causing concern for the Bank of England. Inflation at 9.0% in April was almost five-fold its target. The BoE increased interest rates four times from December, but has stated that it will likely increase them once more.

Moore stated that service providers were afraid consumers wouldn’t pay higher prices and would reduce spending in the future.

Separate data released earlier Tuesday revealed that British shoppers saw their expenditures decrease in May for the first time since 2021.

Rishi Sunak, finance minister, gave in to the calls to provide support to households that are struggling to deal with inflation. This was due to an increase in energy tariffs.