S&P Global: Russia’s Services PMI rises to 44.5 in April

MOSCOW, May 6 (PRIME) -- Russia’s Services Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) grew to 44.5 in April from the two-year record low figure of 38.1 in March, staying below the 50-point no-change mark, research agency S&P Global said in a statement on Friday.

Researcher Markit recently joined S&P Global, before that the index was called IHS Markit PMI.

The service industry of Russia experienced a further contraction of output caused by weak client demand and a shortage of new orders as the Western sanctions hurt customer purchasing power. The sanctions also ramped up input prices, and cost inflation showed the second fastest growth over the entire period of observation, the agency said.

This resulted in low business confidence, with service firms remaining pessimistic about the production outlook for the next 12 months, which in its turn contributed to lower employment as companies continue their cost-cutting efforts.

The S&P Global Russia Composite PMI Output Index grew to 44.4 in April from 37.7 in March. Although the market contraction softened, the rate of decrease was the second fastest since the beginning of the coronavirus pandemic in May 2020, S&P Global said.

New client orders and client demand contracted again, and sharp decreases in new business and new export orders were registered in the manufacturing and service sectors of Russia. Input and output prices were still growing very fast as the sanctions drive input prices up, the agency added.

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