The imposition of a state of emergency in
The index posted 43.8 in January, down from the 48.9 recorded in December, according to the PMI survey report released on
Anuar Ushbayev, managing partner and chief investment officer at
"With the state of emergency having come to an end, firms will be hoping for an improvement in conditions in February and beyond. In line with this, confidence around the outlook for production hit a seven-month high," he added.
Closures, restrictions
Company closures, restrictions on sales of certain items and restrictions on the movement of the population all lead to sharp reductions in output and new orders. New orders fell at the fastest pace in 21 months as material shortages added to the disruption caused by the state of emergency, with output also down to the greatest extent since
Employment levels declined at the sharpest pace since the manufacturing sector PMI survey began in
The rate of input cost inflation eased to a 22-month low, but firms continued to raise their own selling prices at the same pace as in December.
Despite the challenges faced by firms in January, respondents were generally optimistic that output would increase over the coming year. In fact, sentiment was the highest since June last year. That said, a number of manufacturers highlighted the difficulty of making predictions at present, the survey report added.
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