Dike Onwuamaeze
The Nigerian economy witnessed increased employment in the agriculture and manufacturing categories and a decline in the services and trade sectors in October 2026.
This is contained in the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) report of the Stanbic IBTC Bank Nigeria, which showed that the PMI recorded 55.7 reading in October.
The PMI’s reported stated that the Nigerian economy witnessed further rapid increases in output and new orders in the month under review despite sharper increases in price inflation that was ascribed to increases in fuel costs.
It stated that manufacturing posted the fastest pace of selling price inflation, just ahead of wholesale and retail.
According to the PMI, readings above 50.0 signal an improvement in business conditions on the previous month, while readings below 50.0 show a deterioration.
It said: “Although dipping from September’s reading of 56.4 to 55.7 in October, the headline PMI continued to signal a marked improvement in business conditions at the start of the final quarter of the year. The health of the private sector has now strengthened in nine consecutive months.”
Commenting on the PMI’s report, Head of Equity Research West Africa, Stanbic IBTC Bank, Mr. Muyiwa Oni, said: “Business conditions as measured by the headline PMI has remained in the expansionary territory for the ninth consecutive month, although it moderated to 55.7 points in October from 56.4 in September.
According to Oni, “The breakdown shows output and new orders were slightly weaker than the levels seen in September. Nonetheless, panelists continue to cite improved customer demand and introduction of new products as key drivers driving improvement in business activities in recent months. Job creation was also modest but improved in agriculture and manufacturing sectors with survey participants linking this to higher new orders.”
He said that output prices maintained their uptrend in line with continuous increase in fuel and transportation costs, which are feeding into an increase in cost of production.
Oni said that respondents to the PMI’s survey research, indicated that, “prices of building materials and food produce increased during the month. Staff costs also increased modestly during the month, linked to the need to encourage employees to take on more work as well as help them deal with higher living costs.”
According to the PMI, the rate of purchase price inflation quickened to a four-month high, but remained below the peak seen earlier in the year following the outbreak of war in the Middle East.
“In turn, selling prices also increased at the sharpest pace in four months as more than 29 per cent of respondents raised their charges. While purchase price inflation quickened in October, the rate of increase in staff costs slowed and was only modest.
“Where staff costs rose, this was linked by panellists to a combination of pay rises to help workers deal with higher living costs and efforts to encourage staff to deliver projects more quickly. In line with the picture for staff costs, overall input prices increased at a slightly slower pace in October, albeit one that was still marked overall,” the report said.