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THIS WEEK: Stanbic’s new PMI show decline in business activity
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | Stanbic Bank’s latest Purchase Managers Index PMI for September indicates a slight decline in the headline index from 54.1% in August to 53.8% in September, signaling decline in economic activities.
Jibran Qureshi, the Standard Bank’s regional economist for East Africa, however, said although the index fell, the average of 54.1% in the three months to September was still higher than the average of 51.6% in the first half of the year.
“A strong performance from the coffee sector has supported growth, however the recent armyworm infestation could still pose as a threat to food crop prices and agricultural productivity towards the back end of the year,” he said.
He said future outlook performance will partly depend on how the private sector recovers in terms of uptake of credit to stimulate economic activities.
The bank’s PMI bases its calculations on the performance of five key economy areas – new orders, output, employment, suppliers’ delivery times, and stocks of purchases.
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