Russia: Manufacturing PMI climbs into expansion territory in July

The Markit/HSBC manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) increased from 49.1 in June to 51.0 in July, which marks the highest print since October 2013. As a result, the PMI rose above the 50-threshold that separates expansion from contraction in business conditions for the first time since October 2013.

According to Markit/HSBC, July’s figure signaled an, “overall improvement in Russian manufacturing business conditions at the start of the third quarter.” New orders continued to rise in July, although exports orders continued falling, which suggests that the PMI improvement is still fragile.

The services PMI was virtually unchanged in in July, and therefore it remains below the 50-threshold. The index moved from 49.8 in May to 49.7 in July.

FocusEconomics Consensus Forecast panelists see fixed investment rising 0.1% in 2014, which is down 0.8 percentage points from the previous month’s estimate. For 2015, the panel expects fixed investment to increase 2.0%.