February 26, 2015

The manufacturing Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) elaborated by Bank Austria inched up from 48.5 in January to 48.7 in February. Despite the slight increase, the index is still below the 50 threshold that indicates a contraction in business activity in the manufacturing sector, where it has been hovering since September 2014.



According to Bank Austria, the slight improvement observed in February was driven by a slower pace of contraction in job creation, output and new orders. Employment fell for the sixth consecutive month in February, although this was the slowest decrease that has been recorded in that time period. The Bank also pointed out that, “with new orders falling further, companies scaled back their production in February. However, the rate of decline eased since the previous month and was only marginal overall. Sector data showed that output decreased at consumer, intermediate and investment goods producers.”

FocusEconomics Consensus Forecast panelists expect gross fixed investment to expand 1.3% in 2015, which is unchanged from last month’s forecast. The panel sees investment growth accelerating to 2.5% in 2016.