S&P Global: Russia’s Services PMI falls to 38.1 in March

MOSCOW, Apr 5 (PRIME) -- Russia’s Services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) plummeted to 38.1 in March from 52.1 in February, falling sharply below the 50-point no-change mark, index provider S&P Global said in a statement on Tuesday.

The decline was the fastest since May 2020 as it followed a deep decrease in client demand and new orders amid great economic uncertainty. This made companies cut back on employees, with employment falling at the fastest dynamics since June 2020. In its turn, staff reductions hurt business confidence, as the outlook for the next 12 months plunged to the lowest point over the past two years, S&P Global said.

At the same time, inflationary pressure intensified significantly, with the rates of input prices and output price inflation accelerating to record highs.

S&P Global Russia Composite PMI Output Index slumped to 37.7 in March from 50.8 in February, signaling a market contraction in the private sector. The decrease followed the market falls in new business across the private sector caused by the economic and geopolitical uncertainty. The new orders showed the steepest fall since May 2020 as foreign client demand also fell substantially.

End %%md/jst%%