daniel chigunwe
Insufficient demand, cash flow difficulties and uncertain economic environment weighed down the country’s manufacturing sector capacity utilisation during the 2024 first quarter, the Zimbabwe National Statistics Agency (ZimStat) has reported.
However, for the mining sector, cash flow difficulties shortage of electricity and lack of access failed to dampen capacity utilisation which increased to 50,3 percent from 50,0 percent recorded in the fourth quarter of 2023.
ZimStat regularly conducts business tendency surveys with the objective of producing indicators for use in monitoring current business situations and short-term developments in the manufacturing and mining sectors.
In a report on the business tendency survey for the first three months of 2024, ZimStat said the combined capacity utilisation for the manufacturing sector was 44 percent, with large companies at 51,3 percent and small and medium companies at 42,7 percent. The views and expectations for the second quarter were obtained from respondents of 345 manufacturing companies and 69 mining companies.
The response rates were 47 percent for the manufacturing sector, and 53 percent for the mining sector, giving a combined response rate of 51,5 percent.
At 51,3 percent, the capacity utilisation for the large manufacturing companies went down from 56,8 percent for the 2023 fourth quarter, while the combined capacity utilisation for the manufacturing sector was a decline from 46.1 percent recorded during the 2023 fourth quarter.
The manufacturing confidence index increased from -1,3 in fourth quarter 2023 to 2,7 in first quarter 2024 while the mining confidence index increased to 15,9 in first quarter 2024, from 13.0 recorded in the fourth quarter 2023.
The purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for first quarter 2024 was 33,3, reflecting a 0,7 point decrease from the fourth quarter value of 40,3. — New Ziana
Bongani Ndlovu