Manufacturing sector activity expands in February

Sri Lanka’s manufacturing activity expanded in February as the manufacturing sector PMI rose 0.9 index points compared to the previous month’s record of an index value of 57.1, the latest data released by the Central Bank showed. 
This indicates that the manufacturing activities continued to expand in February 2017, largely attributable to the increasing orders for the upcoming New Year season visible in the New Orders 
sub-index. 

The ‘stock of purchases’ sub-index decreased in February as a result of the usage of stocks accumulated in January and the delays in delivering materials, which is reflected by the lengthening of the ‘suppliers’ delivery time’. 
The ‘employment’ sub-index also increased while the ‘production’ sub-index remained unchanged. The less number of working days in February was highlighted as a constraint for increasing the production to meet the increase in new orders. 
Overall data points to an expansion where all the sub-indices are above the neutral 50.0 threshold. 
The expectations for activities indicated an improvement for the next three months.
Meanwhile, the services sector PMI slowed down 0.2 index points to 57.3 in February compared to the previous month. 
The deceleration in the Services PMI was caused by the decelerations in the ‘business activity’ sub-index and the decline in the ‘backlogs of work’ sub-index. 
The ‘new businesses, ‘employment’ and ‘expectations for activity’ sub-indices increased in February compared to 
January 2017.