a food delivery employee rides a bike near police officers on horses next to the st peters square on the fourth day of an unprecedented lockdown across of all italy imposed to slow the outbreak of coronavirus in rome italy march 13 2020 reutersalberto lingria rome aug 3 reuters  italys services sector contracted in july for the first time since january as new business fell and inflationary pressures rose a survey showed on wednesday sp globals purchasing managers index pmi for services declined to 484 in july from 516 in june slipping below the 50 mark that separates growth from contraction the result was below the median forecast of 501 in a reuters survey of 14 analysts the subindex for new business in the service sector stood at 487 in july compared with 523 in june italys manufacturing pmi released on monday showed the sector contracted in july for the first time in more than two years amid a sharp decline in factory production read more the composite purchasing managers index combining services and manufacturing stood at 477 in july down from 513 in june its first contraction since january 2021 on friday statistics bureau istat said italys economy grew a fasterthanexpected 10 in the second quarter of 2022 and 46 yearonyear read more