Economic activities in the country expanded in August for the first time in 13 months.
This is contained in the Purchasing Manager's Index, a publication of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) released on Wednesday, September 4, 2024.
The gatherings of PMI for August 2024 stood at 50.2 index points, indicating a growth in economic activities after 13 consecutive months of poor performance.
“The sectoral breakdown shows that the services sector recorded expansion for the third consecutive month, while the agricultural sector registered expansion for the first month. The industry sector, though contracted, registered a slower contraction when compared to the level recorded in the previous month.
“Among the 36 sub-sectors reviewed across the industry, services and agriculture sectors, 17 sub-sectors reported growth with primary metal reporting the highest growth during the month under review, while the remaining 19 sub-sectors registered a decline with forestry reporting the highest decline" read the statement.
The PMI report also shows that new orders and stock of raw materials came up to 50.8, 50.8 and 51.3 points respectfully, while employment output has 48.7 points which registered a decline in August 2024.
“Output, new orders and stock of raw materials at 50.8, 50.5 and 51.3 points, respectively indicated growth. Suppliers’ Delivery Time is stationary at 50.0 points, while employment at 48.7 points registered a decline in August 2024,” the report stated.
The Central Bank of Nigeria said the August PMI research and survey was conducted from August 12 to 16, explaining that the survey respondents were the company’s Purchasing and Supply Executives, drawn from the three sectors of the economy, which are: industry, services and agriculture.
Any index above 50.0 points shows expansion in business activities and a no-change situation while below 50.0 points indicates a contraction in business activities.
The PMI is conducted based on responses regarding the direction of change in different aspects of respondents’ business activities.
Looking closely at the research composite of employment index, it showed that at 48.7 index points in August, the contraction in employment level continued for the eighth consecutive month.
“This index when compared to the level in July 2024, remained unchanged, indicating no significant change in employment during the period.
Nineteen sub-sectors reported a contraction in employment level, with transportation equipment and forestry sub-sectors recording the highest decline in the review month.
Six sub-sectors remained unchanged, while the remaining 11 sub-sectors reported increased employment levels with the electrical equipment sub-sector having the highest employment index,” said the report.
Also in August, the CBN declared the reintroduction of key economic reports, including the purchasing managers’ index, business expectation survey and inflation expectation report.
This is contained in a statement signed by the Acting Director of Corporate Communications, Hakama Ali, where he explained that the reports were important and crucial for offering stakeholders timely and accurate insights into Nigeria’s economic performance and for gaining a better understanding of the country’s economic landscape for better performances and projections.
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