Ghana: Private-sector business conditions contract fractionally in July
At the outset of the third quarter, business conditions in Ghana’s private-sector economy continued to decrease from the prior month: The IHS Markit Ghana Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) came in at 49.7 in July, unchanged from June.
The stable headline reading reflected accelerating new orders amid strengthening demand offset by another drop in output due to Covid-19-induced weakness; although demand improved, it remained fragile due to the pandemic. As firms had spare capacity, staff levels were reduced again in the month. Moreover, backlogs of work dropped at a marked pace in the month. Turning to prices, input costs rose sharply in July as purchase prices ticked up notably due to higher fuel prices; material shortages; and currency weakness. This offset lower staff costs. Higher input prices were passed on the customer, with output prices also rising.
Andrew Harker, economics director at IHS Markit, commented: “While Ghana’s economy seems to have left the worst of the COVID-19 downturn behind for now, the latest PMI data point to a return to stability rather than any strong rebound in output.”