The seasonally adjusted Markit Russia Purchasing Managers’ Index fell to 48.0 in April from 48.3 in March. The index latest score was an eight-month low and likely reinforcing the predictions made by the IMF for a contraction in 2016. The IMF has recently downgraded their 2016 forecast for Russian GDP growth to -1.8% from -1.0%.
Survey details showed Russia's manufacturing output contracted at sharpest pace since May 2009. All monitored sub-sectors reporting a drop. Russian manufacturers also registered a broad-based fall in incoming new work in April.
Work-in-hand continued to be depleted, leading to another drop in employee numbers while price pressures in the sector persisted for another month, as both input costs and output charges rose. Russian goods producers cut back on their employee numbers for the thirty-fourth successive month in April. However, the rate of job shedding was the weakest since last November.
“The headline figure reinforced the predictions made by the IMF as it slipped to an eight-month low, pointing to more challenging business conditions for Russian manufacturers.” notes Samuel Agass, Economist at Markit.
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