Manufacturing continues to drop on weakening global and local demand

• Services get a fillip from recovery seen in tourism, December PMI shows 

Manufacturing sector activity declined in December, continuing its months-long weakness due to a host of global and local factors while the services sector activity returned to growth running on the typical seasonal pop seen in the activity levels and more specifically due to the stronger than expected revival in the tourism trade, the monthly Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) data showed. 

The PMI which provides much insight into how the economy fared in the previous month showed that the manufacturing sector recorded an index value of 44.8 in December from 42.1 in November, reflecting some improvement, though still indicates a contraction. The services recorded an index value of 51.6 in the month, compared to 49.0 a month before, reflecting a growth in activity levels during the month.