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S. Africa Factory Sentiment Falls; Extends Worst Start in Decade

  • PMI fell to 45.4 in May from 47.2 in April, Absa and BER say
  • Index has been below the neutral 50 mark every month this year
A worker operates a machine used to mold clear glass bottles at a manufacturing plant in Roodekop.

A worker operates a machine used to mold clear glass bottles at a manufacturing plant in Roodekop.

Photographer: Waldo Swiegers/Bloomberg

A gauge measuring sentiment in South Africa’s manufacturing industry declined in May, extending its worst start to a year since the financial crisis.

Absa Group Ltd.’s Purchasing Managers’ Index, compiled by the Bureau for Economic Research, fell to 45.4 from 47.2 in April, the Johannesburg-based lender said in an emailed statement Monday. The reading missed the 48 median estimate of six economists in a Bloomberg survey.