Philippines: Manufacturing PMI deteriorates in January
The IHS Markit Manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell to 50.0 in January from December’s 51.8. As a result, the index lies at the 50-threshold, signaling no change in business conditions from the previous month. The result marked the end of a run of four consecutive months of improving conditions.
The flat reading came amid a decrease in output and new orders, with the former declining at the fastest rate in five months, amid the impact of Typhoon Rai, rising Covid-19 caseloads and shortages of raw materials. Nonetheless, the decline in employment softened. Moreover, delivery times lengthened and stocks of purchases increased, amid ongoing global supply chain bottlenecks, preventing the PMI from slipping into contractionary territory. Meanwhile, business sentiment moderated from December’s 23-month high.
IHS Markit’s Shreeya Patel commented on the outlook:
“The latest PMI data revealed an unfortunate start to the year for the Philippines manufacturing sector. […] That said, there were signs of resilience. Employment fell at one of the softest paces in almost two years, and price pressures started to ease. […] Whilst the full impact of the typhoon and the Omicron variant are unknown, it’s clear production will certainly be impacted in the coming months […].”