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March 8, 2019 www.intellinews.com I Page 8
Russia's services PMI at three-month high in February
bne IntelliNews
February’s services PMI data signalled a faster rise in business activity across the Russian service sector, a March 5 report by IHS Markit showed. Service providers recorded a three- month high upturn in output amid a sharp increase in new business.
The services sector fared better than the manu- facturing sector that failed to pick up any mo- mentum in February.
While the IHS Markit manufacturing PMI fell to a five-month low of 50.1 in February, just above the 50.0 no-change mark, the Russia Services Business Activity Index posted 55.3 in February, up from 54.9 in January.
"The latest expansion in business activity was strong overall and the quickest since last No- vember," Markit commented, noting that "anec- dotal evidence suggested the rise was due to the acquisition of new clients and more favourable demand conditions across the service sector."
Panellists among the service providers also stated that stronger client demand drove the lat- est expansion. New business from abroad also
increased for the fifth successive month in February.
As a result, the Composite Output Index (account- ing for both services and manufacturing) regis- tered 54.1 in February, up from 53.6 in January.
"At the composite level, hiring activity quickened to the strongest since May 2011 as panellists signalled a robust degree of confidence in the year-ahead outlook," Markit economist Sian Jones commented on February report.
The degree of optimism among the service providers was one of the strongest over the past seven-and-a-half years, with the business expectations towards the year ahead picking up, according to Markit.
The recent hike in VAT continued to impact
upon cost pressures across the Russian service sector in February, with the rate of input price inflation easing from January, but remaining el- evated and posting the second-fastest rise since December 2014. Higher fuel and raw material costs were also flagged by panellists as driving the increase in cost burdens.
Russia industrial production vs PMI index