According to the BER, the seasonally adjusted Absa Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) came in at 53.0 index points in January 2023 – virtually unchanged from 53.1 in December. A decline in the employment and new sales orders indices to levels below 50 were offset by higher activity and inventories returning to positive terrain. Most encouraging was the significant, and surprising, improvement in the business activity index relative to the previous month. This was despite many respondents flagging load-shedding as holding back production and new sales orders dipping lower in January.
Subscribers to EasyData can download the complete report in PDF format on www.easydata.co.za.