Cervejas de Moçambique to pay more than €3 million in dividends
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The Standard Bank Mozambique’s Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) rose to 49.9 in April from 49.7 in March, remaining below the 50 level for the second month running, after temporarily rising above 50 in February.
The April rise reflects growth in employment and business activity, but the index remains in negative territory, according to the Standard Bank report released this Tuesday (07-05).
“Further improvements in demand conditions fed through to a renewed expansion of business activity in Mozambique’s private sector at the start of the second quarter of the year. In turn, employment also increased, but purchasing activity and inventories declined. At the same time, inflation rates remained relatively moderate,” the study reads.
This index had risen above the 50 benchmark for the first time in five months in February – to 50.7 points – also recording the highest growth since July 2023, but returned to negative territory in March (49.7 points), rising again in April (49.9 points).
“Increases in output, new orders and employment were cancelled out by a reduction in stocks of purchases and shorter supplier delivery times, suggesting spare capacity in supply chains,” the study further explains.
It adds that the increase in output was the second in the last three months, “and followed no change in activity during March”.
“Sector data indicated that services was the main driver of growth, while weakness was recorded in manufacturing. […] New business was up for the third month running on the back of improved demand conditions which helped firms to secure new orders from both new and existing clients,” it adds.
However, the study also points out that “the pace of expansion in April was modest, but quicker than seen in March”, and that “expectations of further improvements in new orders in the coming months supported confidence in the year-ahead outlook for business activity”.
“Moreover, sentiment strengthened to a six month high. .The hiring of additional staff is also projected to support output growth,” it also notes.
PMI readings above 50.0 signal an improvement in business conditions on the previous month, while readings below 50.0 show a deterioration.
Quoted in the study released today, the chief economist of Standard Bank Mozambique, Fáusio Mussá, comments that, “[The April] PMI suggests that price pressures are continuing to subside, however companies face difficulties in sourcing foreign exchange to meet their external payment needs, which may have limited their ability to grow inventories”.
“While we maintain our year-end inflation forecast of 5.9% y/y for 2024, we have trimmed our inflation forecasts for end Q2:24 to end Q3:24 to below 3% y/y due to weaker aggregate demand,” Mussá explains.
“This implies that 12-month average inflation will likely decline to 3.3% y/y in 2024, down from our previous forecast of 4.9% y/y and 7.1% y/y in 2023,” he concludes.
The Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) published monthly by Standard Bank results from responses from purchasing directors from a panel of around 400 private sector companies.
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