Manufacturing and services sectors gain in November

Saturday, 31 December 2016 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}

The manufacturing and services sectors have improved in November according to the Central Bank.

It said the Manufacturing Sector Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) was 58.4 in November with an increase of 1.9 index points compared to October 2016 indicating that the manufacturing activities expanded in November compared to October.

This was mainly due to the higher pace in which employment and production sub-indices expanded during the month. The new orders sub-index also increased during the month.

The stock of purchases sub-index decelerated in November indicating a usage of stocks for the upcoming season while suppliers’ delivery time lengthened. Overall, data points to an expansion where all the sub-indices are above the neutral 50.0 threshold. The expectations for activities indicated an improvement for the next three months.

The services sector PMI increased to 59.7 index points in November from 59.3 index points in October 2016. The increase in PMI over the last month’s value indicates that economic activities in the services sector continued to expand in November 2016 in comparison to the previous month.

The increase in Services PMI was driven by expansion in employment and expectations for activity sub-indices. New businesses and business activity sub-indices decelerated in November 2016 compared to the previous month. However, backlogs of work declined in November, albeit at slower rate than in October 2016. Prices charged, which is not taken into consideration in PMI compilation process, increased at a higher rate in November 2016.