CBN’s PMI shows mixed results for March 2016

Central Bank of Nigeria’s (CBN) Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) – Manufacturing and Non- Manufacturing – for the month of March 2016 released at the weekend, showed a mixed performance for different sub-sectors.
According to data posted on the apex bank’s website, the Manufacturing PMI improved marginally to 45.9 per cent in March 2016, compared to 45.5 per cent in the preceding month, indicating that the manufacturing sector declined at a slower rate during the review period. The Index showed that of the 16 manufacturing subsectors, 12 of them reported decline in the review month.
These include transportation equipment; furniture & related products; plastics & rubber products; textile, apparel, leather & footwear; printing & related support activities; non-metallic mineral products; paper products; fabricated metal products; primary metal; computer & electronic products; appliances & components and electrical equipment.
The remaining four sub-sectors- petroleum & coal products; food, beverage & tobacco products; cement and chemical & pharmaceutical products – however, reported an expansion. The survey also showed that the production level index for the manufacturing sector declined for the third consecutive month to 46.6 per cent, but at a slower rate than the preceding month.
Furthermore, the employment level index in the month of March stood at 45.5per cent, indicating declines in employment for the thirteenth con-secutive month. However, this index declined at a slower rate when compared with the level in February 2016.
In the same vein, an analysis of the non-manufacturing PMI report shows that it declined for the third consecutive month. Nevertheless, the index improved to 45.4per cent, compared to the 44.3 points registered in the preceding month. Specifically, the non-manufacturing PMI showed that business activity declined for the third consecutive month.
The index, nonetheless, improved to 46.3 points in March 2016, compared to 43.7points in the preceding month. Similarly, this index showed that employment level stood at 43.9 per cent in March 2016. The index declined for the third consecutive month, but at a faster rate when compared to the preceding month.
The Statistics Department of CBN conducts on a monthly basis, the survey of purchasing and supply executives of manufacturing and non-manufacturing organisations in 13 states – two states in each of the six geo-political zones, and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT. The analysis result is used to compute the monthly PMI.