MOSCOW: Growth in Russia’s services sector picked up pace in March as new orders came in, a survey showed on Wednesday, despite export orders declining for the first time in almost a year and workforce issues continuing to cause firms problems.
The S&P Global Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for Russian services rose to 51.4 in March from 51.1 in February, moving slightly further above the 50 mark that separates expansion from contraction.
“New business continued to expand, and at a faster pace, but a renewed contraction in new export orders weighed on total new sales,” S&P Global said in a statement.
Labour shortages have been causing problems across the Russian economy in the past year, but service providers were able to increase employment for the eighth month running.
“Pressure on capacity, as evidenced by another rise in backlogs of work, remained present despite a stronger upturn in employment,” S&P Global said.
Nevertheless, firms remained confident about future output.
“Although the degree of confidence slipped to a three-month low, it was historically strong, with firms noting that positive expectations were underpinned by hopes of further upticks in client demand and investment in advertising campaigns,” S&P Global said.
A sister survey on Monday showed activity in Russia’s manufacturing sector expanded at the fastest rate in nearly 18 years in March, as new export business grew for the first time in five months.
