Ghana: PMI rises to six-month high in January but remains in contractionary territory
The S&P Global Purchasing Managers’ index (PMI) came in at 47.2 in January, up from December’s 47.0. As such, the index moved closer to the 50.0 no-change threshold, signaling a softer deterioration in private sector operating conditions compared to the previous month. Nevertheless, January’s result represented the 12th consecutive monthly deterioration in business conditions.
The January print showed a less downbeat picture, with output declining at a weaker pace and new orders contracting at the slowest rate in six months. Elevated price pressures, which have hit business activity in recent months, eased in January: Input and output inflation cooled to six-month and 13-month lows, respectively. Moreover, employment increased for the second month running, while business sentiment reached a one-year high amid expectations of exchange rate normalization.
Andrew Harker, economics director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, underlined that:
“While times remained tough for firms in Ghana […] there were further tentative signs that the worst of the current downturn has passed. […] a sign of the positive sentiment was that companies expanded their staffing levels despite current workloads continuing to fall.”