Tony Chukwunyem 
Nigeria’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) expanded for the fourth consecutive month to 54.3 in March 2025, from 53.7 in the preceding month, Stanbic IBTC Bank’s latest Nigeria PMI report has said.
According to a press release, the report showed that the recovery in the country’s private sector gathered pace in March, “with output, new orders and employment all increasing to greater degrees than in February.”
“Firms were helped to some extent by softening inflationary pressures, with input costs increasing at the slowest pace since May 2023,” the statement added.
Furthermore, it said that the latest improvement in business conditions in the private sector was “solid and the most marked since the start of 2024.”
Specifically, the statement said: “Central to the latest strengthening in the health of the private sector was an improving demand climate.
This helped lead to a fifth successive monthly expansion of new orders in March. Moreover, the pace of increase was sharp and the fastest in 14 months.
In turn, the pace of output growth also quickened at the end of the opening quarter. Here too, the latest rise was the sharpest since January 2024. Output expanded across all four sectors covered by the report.
“Increases in new orders and output requirements encouraged companies to expand their staffing levels and purchasing activity accordingly.
A modest rise in employment was nonetheless the most marked in seven months, while input buying was up sharply.”
