Ghana: PMI eases in February
The IHS Markit Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) ebbed in February to clock 49.6, which is down from January’s 50.8. Consequently, the index was below the 50-threshold, suggesting a deterioration in business conditions relative to the previous month.
The downtick came amid weaker demand and higher price rises, as firms passed on spiking input costs to costumers by rising output prices. Meanwhile, new orders increased at the slowest pace in the past six months of growth. Turning to employment, despite wage rises to accommodate inflationary pressures on staff, firms still hired at a sharp pace. The combination of bigger ranks and lower demand led backlogs of work to decrease sharply.
Moving on to the outlook, firms seemed less confident as sentiment regarding the coming year came to its lowest level since June 2021 amid concerns regarding price pressures in the private sector. That said, firms remained optimistic, holding on to hopes of growing new orders.