Despite an uptick in the Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) in December last year, all indicators point to manufacturing growth being under renewed pressure in the fourth quarter of the financial year.
In an e-mail alert sent to FTW Online, the Bureau for Economic Research (BER) highlighted that while the PMI rose to 45.5 index points in December 2015 -- up from a more than six-year low of 43.3 points in November – the average index points for the fourth quarter was 4.5 index points below the level recorded in the third quarter.
“This suggests that after output staged a significant rebound in the third quarter, production growth is likely to come under renewed pressure in the fourth quarter,” said the BER’s Celeste Booysen.
