Recovery of manufacturing activities continued in August 2020 as reflected by Purchasing Managers Indices(PMI), benefitting from the normalization of business activities in the country.
Both New Orders and Production sub-indices remained at expansionary levels in August 2020 while a noticeable development was observed in the Employment sub-index.
The expansion of manufacturing activities was mainly supported by the manufacturing of the food & beverages sector. Some respondents in the sector highlighted that they have recruited new employees with the anticipation of upcoming seasonal demand. The Stock of purchases expanded at a slower rate in line with the movements of Production and New Orders. The overall expectations for manufacturing activities for the next three months improved, yet some manufacturers are still concerned that the relatively weak demand particularly from the external front prevents them from reaching pre-COVID levels.
Services sector continued to expand for the third consecutive month with PMI reaching 56.0 in August 2020. This was underpinned by the expansions observed in New Businesses, Business Activities and Expectations for Activity compared to July 2020 indicating the gradual recovery of services sector activities to the pre-pandemic levels. New Businesses, particularly in financial services, insurance and transportation sub-sectors, improved in August 2020 with the gradual recovery in economic activities.
Business Activities sub index increased for the fourth successive month and reached to 66.7 signifying a swift recovery in services sector activities compared to the previous month. In line with the increase observed in apparel and pharma protective masks exports, business activities in the transportation sub-sector improved.
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