A report says the export of Nigerian manufactured goods, employment and productivity in the economy grew in the month of July 2021.
The report released by Stanbic IBTC Bank Nigeria’s Purchasing Manager Index (PMI),indicated that the rate of inflation eased to a seven-month low during the period under review.
It added the headline PMI rose in July to 55.4, up from 53.6 in June.
The PMI report indicated that foreign demand for made in Nigeria goods and services went up for the third successive months this year in July.
It attributed the rise to improvements in global economic demand conditions that led to higher exports. It said that the rate of expansion strengthened for the second month running and improved to a new series high in July.
The PMI report also showed that output rose at a sharp and accelerated pace at Nigerian private sector firms in July.
According to the report, “The rate of growth was the joint-quickest since August 2020, as greater customer demand and new client wins drove the latest upticks.”
The report added: “Nigeria’s private sector began the second half of the year on a positive footing as they continued the run of expansion that began in July 2020.
Quicker upticks in output, new orders, purchases and employment supported growth.
Despite this, firms were able to keep backlogs at bay, though sentiment did moderate to the weakest since last September.
“On the price front, higher raw material, wage and transportation prices were linked to another robust rate of overall input price inflation. Output prices also rose sharply. Moreover new orders received by Nigerian private sector firms rose for the 13th successive month in July.”
The report said that the rate of growth quickened fractionally from that in the previous survey period and was the sharpest since January 2020 and attributed higher sales to improved demand conditions.
The Stanbic IBTC report stated that employment index rose in July as its data pointed to a sixth successive monthly expansion in staffing levels at Nigerian private sector firms.
The rate of growth, it added, quickened from June’s three-month low and posted above the long-run series average.
It revealed that a surge in demand encouraged hiring activity at the start of the third quarter
