The BLOM PMI remained below the no-change mark of 50.0 in March, indicating overall deterioration in private sector operating condition in the Lebanese economy. The PMI posted 48.9, up slightly from February’s 48.7, noting that companies’ output, new orders and exports continued to decline, whereas their products and services’ prices went up for the first time since mid-2014. Commenting on March’s results, Marwan Mikhael Head of Research at BLOMINVEST Bank said: “The PMI is still reflecting the sluggish economic performance of the private sector as both engines of growth, namely tourism and real estate fail to substantially recover from the troughs reached in 2013. However it has been a few months now that the PMI is hovering just below the 50 benchmark that separates contraction from expansion showing that more than 90 percent of the respondents are having a stagnating business while those facing a contraction in activity are outnumbering those reporting expansion by only a small margin.
Full details about February’s results are available in the attached BLOM PMI reports: