The report from IHS Markit revealed on Monday that activity in France’s services sector expanded at the fastest pace in almost 3 ½ years in June.

According to the report, the headline seasonally adjusted IHS Markit France Services Business Activity Index came in at 57.8 in June, up from 56.6 in May. The reading pointed to the strongest rise in output in French services since January 2018, underpinned by a further lifting of pandemic-related restrictions during the month.

Economists had forecast the indicator to increase to 57.4 in June.

According to the report, the demand for French services saw another healthy improvement in June, while jobs growth was the fastest for three months, new business from abroad recorded first increase since February 2020 and business confidence remained strongly positive. Elsewhere, price pressures intensified: cost inflation reached a 17-month high due to greater supplier fees and shortages of inputs, while the rate of output price inflation was the steepest in almost a decade.