The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The persistent high cost of fuel contributed to negative private sector activity in May with the Stanbic Headline Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) dropping to 51.5 from to 53.9 recorded in April—readings above 50.0 mean improvement in business conditions on the previous month while readings that are below 50.0 show deterioration.
The Stanbic PMI covers the agriculture, industry, construction, wholesale & retail, and service sectors. It is a composite index, calculated as a weighted average of five individual sub-components: New Orders (30%), Output (25%), Employment (20%), Suppliers’ Delivery Times (15%) and Stocks of Purchases (10%).
The Stanbic PMI is an analysis of data collected from the monthly survey of business conditions in the Ugandan private sector involving about 400 respondents. The survey, sponsored by Stanbic Bank and produced by SP Global, has been conducted since June 2016.
The Headline PMI provides an early indication of operating conditions in Uganda.
Ronald Muyanja, the Head of Trading at Stanbic Bank Uganda said, “Business conditions continued to improve in the Ugandan private sector in May amid ongoing increases in output and new orders; however, price pressures were noted to have limited demand. Higher costs were attributed to rising fuel prices and the latest strengthening of the health of the private sector is still weaker than the survey’s six-year average.”
Ongoing rise in output and new orders were registered in May—the tenth month running. Anecdotal evidence suggested that while on balance customer demand continued to improve, there were some instances of price rises deterring clients.
The industry, services and wholesale and retail sectors saw new business increase, but decreases were recorded in agriculture and construction. Selling prices continued to rise in May as companies responded to higher input costs—sector data showed that increases in charges were widespread across the private sector.
