By THE INDEPENDENT UG
Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Stanbic Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) for December indicated a positive trend in Uganda’s private-sector activity, with the headline monthly index rising to 54.8 from 53.4 in November, marking the highest reading since June 2023. This continuous expansion has been driven by increased customer numbers during December, leading to higher new orders and business activity.
Christopher Legilisho, an Economist at Stanbic Bank, highlighted that Uganda has experienced robust growth in private-sector activity, with both output and new orders rising for the seventeenth consecutive month. The hiring trend also saw an increase for the ninth consecutive month, with companies employing staff, both on a permanent and temporary basis, to manage growing orders, heightened purchasing activity, and to address backlogs, particularly concentrated in the agriculture sector.
However, the survey pointed out that the industry sector experienced a reduction in employment, deviating from the overall trend. While companies expanded both employment and purchasing activity, the capacity enhancement fell short in preventing the first increase in backlogs of work on record.
Furthermore, the survey noted that input costs and selling prices continued to rise, indicating ongoing inflationary pressures. Despite these challenges, the overall PMI remains above the 50.0 no-change mark for the fourteenth consecutive month, signaling continued growth in the private sector.
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