Tony Chukwunyem After rising for the fourth consecutive month to 54.3 in March, Nigeria’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), edged lower to 54.2 in April 2025, Stanbic IBTC Bank’s latest Nigeria PMI report has said.
According to a press release, with a reading above 50 still indicating growth, headline PMI for April “pointed to a solid monthly improvement in business conditions.”
The statement said: “The start of the second quarter of 2025 saw a further improvement in business conditions among Nigerian companies amid strengthening customer demand and growth of output.
In response, firms ramped up their purchasing activity and took on extra staff, but this expansion of capacity was not sufficient to prevent a build-up of backlogs of work. “Meanwhile, inflationary pressures ticked up from March but remained muted relative to the picture in 2024.”
Specifically, the statement noted that output increased at a sharp and accelerated pace in April, with the rate of expansion the most pronounced since January 2024 and all four broad sectors seeing an increase in business activity and with the services sector recording the sharpest growth.
It further said: “Higher new orders and increased customer numbers were among the factors mentioned by respondents as having supported growth of output.
New orders rose sharply as demand conditions strengthened, with the pace of expansion littlechanged from that seen in March.
“In line with the picture for output, employment increased for the fifth consecutive month in April as firms responded to greater workloads and made efforts to complete orders on time. Although modest, the pace of job creation was at an eight-month high.
“A desire to keep on top of orders was also behind a rapid increase in purchasing activity, with the pace of growth quickening to the fastest since February 2022. Stocks of purchases were also accumulated during the month.”
However, according to the statement, despite efforts to complete orders in a timely manner, the report shows that companies saw an increase in backlogs of work for the first time in 11 months in April, although the accumulation modest.
