The Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) said that decline in economic activities persisted in October but at a slower space. This was contained in the CBN’s Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) report for October. The report indicated that activities in the manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors declined for the tenth consecutive month.
According to the report, “Production level, new orders, employment level and raw material inventories in the manufacturing sector declined at a slower rate but supplier delivery time improved at a faster rate in October 2016. Business activity, new orders, employment level and raw materials inventories in the non manufacturing sector declined at slower rate in October 2016.”
The report stated, “The Manufacturing PMI stood at 44.1 index points in October 2016, compared to 42.5 in the preceding month , indicating a slowing decline in the manufacturing sector during the review period. Fourteen of the sixteen sub-sectors surveyed recorded declines in the review month in the following order: electrical equipment; primary metal; fabricated metal products; petroleum & coal products; transportation equipment; computer & electronic products; printing & related support activities; non-metallic mineral products; plastics & rubber products; furniture & related products; paper products; textile, apparel, leather & footwear; cement and chemical & pharmaceutical products. The remaining two subsectors grew in the order: appliances & components and food, beverage & tobacco products.
“At 42.3 index points, the production level index for manufacturing sector declined for the tenth consecutive month, but at a slower rate than the index recorded in September 2016. recreation; health care & social assistance; water supply, sewage & waste management and information & communication. The remaining two subsectors recorded growth in the order: educational services and agriculture
“The new orders index declined for the tenth consecutive month. At 40.3 points, the index declined at a slower rate when compared to the 38.7 index points in September 2016.
“Employment level index in the month of October 2016 stood at 42.2 points, indicating declines in employment level for the twentieth consecutive month. However, the index declined at a slower rate when compared with the level in the preceding month.”
The report stated, “The composite PMI for the non-manufacturing sector recorded decline for the tenth consecutive month. The index stood at 43.4 points, indicating a slower decline when compared to the index in September 2016. Of the eighteen non-manufacturing sub-sectors, sixteen recorded declines in the following order: construction; management of companies; public administration; professional, scientific, & technical services; accommodation & food services; wholesale trade; utilities; repair, maintenance/washing of motor vehicles; real estate, rental & leasing; electricity, gas, steam & air conditioning supply; finance & insurance; transportation & warehousing; arts, entertainment & recreation; health care & social assistance; water supply, sewage & waste management and information & communication. The remaining two subsectors recorded growth in the order: educational services and agriculture.
“At 43.0 index points, business activity declined for the tenth consecutive month in October 2016. Fourteen of the eighteen sub-sectors recorded declines in the following order: management of companies; construction; repair, maintenance/washing of motor vehicles; professional, scientific, & technical services; wholesale trade; utilities; public administration; accommodation & food services; information & communication; real estate, rental & leasing; arts, entertainment & recreation; water supply, sewage & waste management; electricity, gas, steam & air conditioning supply and health care & social assistance. The remaining four sub-sectors recorded growth in the review month in the order: educational services; agriculture; finance & insurance and transportation & warehousing”.
