New data indicates that the manufacturing sector had a good start to the year.
ABSA’s Purchasing Managers’ Index recorded a positive figure of 53 points in the month of January.
The figure remains almost unchanged from the seven-month high of 53.1 in December.
The PMI’s stabilised figure was supported by growth in business activity and inventories despite severe load shedding.
However, employment and new sales orders decreased.
ABSA’s senior economist Miyelani Maluleke says, “What emerges from the ABSA PMI data for January is the manufacturing sector that appears to have been quite resilient in the face of very intense power cuts. We see the business activity sub-index in particular that actually suggests that output was stronger in January relative to December even after adjusting for seasonal factors.”
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