The composite Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), produced by IHS Markit and Stanbic Bank, decreased slightly from 53.0 in December to 52.9 in January, the second highest figure over the last 12 months.
A reading above 50 indicates economic expansion, while one below 50 points toward contraction.
According to the press release, the latest PMI reading signalled a solid improvement in business conditions that was slightly weaker than the prior month. Despite this, overall private sector growth was the second-strongest since December 2016.
Commenting on January’s survey findings, Jibran Qureishi, Regional Economist E.A at Stanbic Bank said: “Output rose to its highest level since January 2016, a trend we suspect is likely to persist over the coming year. Notably, the contraction we saw in the agriculture sub-sector in the first half of 2017 is likely to reverse in the half of 2018, which should subsequently provide tailwinds for other sectors to flourish. Furthermore, the horticulture and floriculture sub-sectors should also perform well over the coming months largely underpinned by the ongoing recovery in the Eurozone as well as the recent appreciation of the EUR currency. We retain our GDP estimate for 2017 at 4.8% but we see a recovery to 5.6% in 2018. ”
