According to the BER, the seasonally adjusted Absa Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell to 49.2 points in May of 2023, from 49.8 in the prior month. The latest reading pointed to the fourth consecutive month of contraction in manufacturing activity, amid a sharp deterioration in the business outlook to its weakest since early 2020, amid the ongoing power crisis in South Africa. According to Absa, this is the most pessimistic respondents have been about the near-term outlook since the strictest phase of South Africa's COVID-lockdown three years ago. The average index level of business activity in the first two months of the second quarter is below the first-quarter average. This suggests that the sector may once again detract from quarterly GDP growth after a small expansion in the first quarter.
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