Ghana: PMI plunges to record low in April on Covid-19 fallout
The Ghana Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) nosedived to an all-time low of 31.7 in April, from 41.4 in March. As a result, the index sank further below the critical 50-threshold that separates improvement from deterioration in Ghanaian business conditions.
The severe downturn came on the back of increasing economic havoc caused by Covid-19 after the government introduced strict lockdown measures to contain the pandemic. Both domestic and foreign demanded plummeted in April, leading to the sharpest reductions in both output and new orders since the survey began in January 2014. On top of that, companies slashed employment levels for the second month running in April, while input costs and output charges continued to fall. On a slightly more positive note, business confidence edged up in April, after a sharp plunge in March.
Commenting on the result and the outlook, Andrew Harker, Associate Director at IHS Markit, said:
“If the PMI readings in the March survey were bad, then the April figures are truly terrible and go way beyond anything seen before in more than six years of data collection. The impacts of COVID-19 and lockdowns to try and prevent its spread were particularly severe on output and new orders, with a number of firms closed completely. One relative bright-spot was employment
where the rate of job cuts was broadly stable as opposed to seeing the sort of strong accelerations witnessed for output and new orders. “With the lockdown now starting to be eased, some firms see this as a chance to start returning to normal. This optimistic view is not shared by all, however, with other companies fearful of how long the effects of the pandemic will last.”