The S&P Global South Africa PMI increased to 50.6 in November from 49.5 in October. This indicates that private sector activity has increased for the first time in three months.
This emerged as demand recovered slightly, resulting in an increase in new business volumes.
Some companies continued to report weak domestic and global economic conditions, as well as the negative impact of rolling blackouts.
Supply conditions remained weak and rolling blackouts affected companies, causing the output to fall for the third straight month.
On a positive note, however, inflationary pressures indicated further signs of softening, as purchase prices rose at the slowest rate since August 2021, leading to a weaker uplift in output charges.
Employment also went up and businesses remained markedly upbeat about future activity. This was amid expectations that disruption from rolling blackouts would ease and price pressures would continue to soften.
