Mozambique's private sector ended 2023 in its weakest position since the beginning of the year, according to PMI survey data.

Companies saw order book volumes fall into negative territory.

Activity and purchasing levels continued to fall, leading to the biggest reduction in stocks since July. On a positive note, weaker demand for inputs helped suppliers deliver items more quickly, while keeping cost pressures down, despite the first increase in input prices in three months.

The main figure calculated by the survey is the Purchasing Managers' IndexTM (PMI®).
Indicators above 50.0 point to an improvement in business conditions in the previous month, while indicators below 50.0 show a deterioration.

The latest PMI indicator of 48.4 put the Mozambican private sector in a contraction zone for the second month running in December.

The index fell from 49.6 in November to its lowest level in 11 months.

Mozambican companies reduced their production levels for the second month running in December, with the decrease accelerating slightly but remaining modest overall.
According to the panelists, the decline in activity was largely due to weak sales and the depletion of inventories.

The latest survey data revealed a drop in sales volumes for the first time in almost a year.

Companies noted that customers' purchasing power had weakened due to rising interest rates, although the rate of decline in new orders was generally only slight.
The data on stocks continued to show the efforts of Mozambican companies to reduce their inventories of the means of production.

Stock levels then fell for the third month in a row in December, with the pace of decline accelerating to the fastest since July.

The drop coincided with a fourth consecutive monthly decline in purchasing activity, although much milder than the seasonally adjusted MOZAMBIQUE PMIPMI, >50 = improvementJul - Dec '23PMI® from Standard Bank Mozambique 2024 S&P Globalthan the three-and-a-half year peak recorded in November.