Central Bank releases PMI Survey Statistics
The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CB) released statistics on the Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) launched in May 2015, focusing on the manufacturing and services sector in the country. In a media release, the Statistics Department of the CB stated that the purpose of the survey is to provide purchasing professionals, business decision-makers and economic analysts with a timely set of data to help better understand industry conditions. This survey is conducted monthly by the department and it completed its one-year cycle in April 2016.
The survey found that the Manufacturing PMI fell below 50 threshold for the second consecutive month in May 2016 with a value of 47.9 index points recording a slight improvement when compared to 42.6 index points registered in April 2016. On a year on year basis, this is a drop of 19.4 index points from May 2015. As highlighted by the respondents, this contraction was mainly due to adverse weather conditions prevailed during the last two weeks of May disturbing overall operations. Factory premises of 29 per cent of the survey respondents were directly affected by floods while others recorded disturbance due to transport issues and employee absenteeism. Nevertheless, the expectations for activities indicated an improvement for the next three months.
The CB stated that the Services Sector PMI for May 2016 was 58.1 index points which is a recovery from 54.7 index points recorded in April 2016, the lowest since its introduction in May 2015. The increase in PMI over the last month’s value indicates that economic activities expanded at a higher rate compared to April 2016. The increase in Services PMI was underpinned by increases in new businesses, employment, backlogs of work and expectations for activity sub-indices. Business activity sub-index, although expanded, slipped down further with the onset of off-season for certain service sector activities, recording the weakest level since the survey began in May 2015. Prices charged increased in May compared to month-on-month decline recorded in April 2016. (NG)