Page 50 - RusRPTMay21

4.3 Industrial sectors and trade 4.3.1 Producers PMI
Russian services PMI jumps to seven-month high in March. The seasonally adjusted IHS Markit Russia Services Business Activity Index jumped to a seven-month high of 55.8 in March, up from 52.2 in February, the consultants said in a press release on April 4.
“The March PMI data indicated a faster rise in business activity across the Russia service sector. The upturn in output was the strongest since August 2020 and largely driven by a quicker increase in new orders,” Markit said. “The expansion in client demand came from both domestic and foreign customers, as new business from abroad rose at the sharpest pace since October 2019. Price pressures remained historically elevated, however. Cost burdens rose at the steepest rate since the VAT hike in January 2019, with firms seeking to pass on higher input prices to customers through a sharp rise in charges.”
The uptick in services follows on from a slow expansion of the manufacturing PMI released the previous week that showed a slowing in March, but still registered 51.1, down slightly from 51.5 in February, but still above the 50 no-change mark.
Combined, the IHS Markit Russia Composite PMI Output Index posted 54.6 in
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