The manufacturing and services sectors witnessed growth in October with the expansion in manufacturing activities primarily attributed to the improvement in new orders and production especially in manufacturing of food and beverages, and seasonal demand also playing an important role.

All the sub-indices of the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) Manufacturing recorded values above the neutral 50 threshold, signalling an overall expansion in October compared to September.

Overall employment however, witnessed a slowdown in this sector especially with regards to manufacturing of textiles, wearing apparel, leather and related activities. This was attributed to difficulties of finding employees in the market.

The services sector, on the other hand, expanded at a higher pace.