KAMPALA – Economic activity in Uganda’s private sector slowed in April from the previous month, undermined by lower output and fewer new orders in the industry, services and retail segments, a survey showed on Friday.
The Markit Stanbic Bank Uganda Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) declined to 51.8 last month, down from March’s 53.2. A reading above 50 indicates expansion; anything below, a contraction.
Markit’s survey noted “business activity contracting across the industry, services and wholesale and retail categories,” and cited particularly lower output and orders.
The three categories are among the five the survey monitors, which also include agriculture and construction.
During April, Markit said, there was healthy growth in output, new orders and employment across agriculture and construction which helped to partly absorb the impact from the
weak performance in other sectors.
Jibran Qureishi, Stanbic Bank’s economist for East Africa, said overall the business activity in private sector was experiencing an expansion but that the expansion was uneven and
that the “non-uniform nature of the economic expansion could be a reason for the absence of consumer inflation pressures.”
Uganda’s year-on-year inflation edged down to 1.8 percent in April from 2.0 percent in March on the back of a drop in food prices.(Reuters)