The manufacturing sector PMI declined from 58.3 points to 51.1 points between February and March 20201. The slowdown was triggered by reduced growth in 7 subsectors including electrical equipment, chemical and pharmaceutical products, primary metals and non-metallic mineral products. Similarly, the non-manufacturing PMI index declined to 49.2 percent, falling below the 50 percent threshold for the first time in over 2 years1. The overall contraction is due to the depression in global economic activity which has led to a reduction in new orders, inventory and consequently employment levels across the manufacturing and non-manufacturing sectors. In the coming months, the reduced activity across both sectors is expected to continue as a result of the decline in global demand for exports and the reduction in local consumption. In the meantime, some manufacturers can switch to producing essential commodities that are required to tackle the pandemic. In addition, the cash transfers by the government should be distributed to manufacturing and non-manufacturing workers that would be laid off or furloughed as a result of the pandemic.
April 20, 2020
Nigeria Economic Update (Issue 13)
Related
Nigeria Economic Update (Issue 15)
Nigerian
Naira depreciated by 1.2 percent at the parallel foreign exchange market
between April 7, 2017 and April 14, 2017. The naira exchanged at N410/$ as
against N405/$ the previous week. Despite the CBNs weekly dollar
sales to BDCs ($20,000 to each BDC in the review week) and spot market sales of
$100 million to SMEs, the nairas depreciated in the week. This may
likely be attributable to speculative motives (on the basis that speculators
likely anticipate that the CBN forex interventions may not be sustainable).
Nigeria Economic Update (Issue 14)
The
considerable increase in inflation continued to be driven by
exchange-rate-pass-through from imported items as well as the lingering
scarcity in the availability of Premium Motor Spirit (PMS). One of the key ways
to reduce inflationary pressures in the near term is to improve the supply of
PMS to filling stations. In the medium to long term, the Nigerian National
Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) may need to revitalize local refining and bridge
the gap between the supply and demand for PMS by households and businesses.