Markit: Russia’s Services PMI falls to 54.4 in December

MOSCOW, Dec 29 (PRIME) -- Russia’s Services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell to 54.4 in December from 55.6 in November and remained above the 50 no-change mark, which means an overall expansion, research company Markit said in a statement on Saturday.

Markit’s Russia Composite Output Index that covers both manufacturing and services sectors fell to 53.9 from 55.

According to Markit, the service sector business activity grew at a solid pace due to inflow of new orders.

“Russian service providers registered a further solid rise in business activity in December. The final quarterly growth performance was the strongest for a year, with employment and business confidence picking up to indicate optimism across the service sector going into 2019,” Sian Jones, economist at IHS Markit, said.

“Although Markit's current forecasts show gross domestic product (GDP) growth moderating slightly in 2019, the latest new business expansion remained sharp.”

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