Nigeria’s Purchasing Managers Index has  risen to 55.4 in July from 53.6 in June this year.

This is according to a report by the lender Stanbic IBTC. 

The company said this signalled a marked improvement in business conditions, describing it as one of the strongest PMIs since January 2020. 

According to the report, “Nigeria’s private sector began the second half of the year on a positive footing as it continued the run of expansion that began in July 2020”, adding that the quicker upticks in output, new orders, purchases and employment supported growth. 

“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,” the report said. 

According to Stanbic IBTC, this uptick was centred on stronger demand conditions, with new orders rising at the fastest rate in one-and-a-half years and firms as a result, raising their output levels at the joint-quickest rate since August 2020. 

I“Greater output requirements led firms to raise their buying activity during the month, which they did so at the sharpest rate in one-and-a-half years. The sustained period of output and new order growth encouraged firms to add to their inventory holdings. Anticipation of greater demand was also linked to stockpiling efforts. 

“To cater for higher workloads, firms raised their headcounts. Job creation has now been seen in each month since February. This allowed firms to clear their backlogs for the fourteenth month in a row. The rate of backlog depletion eased to the softest in four months but was still among the quickest in the series history.”