Overall business conditions in the Czech Republic saw a marginal deterioration in April, primarily reflecting new orders, employment and stocks of purchases, according to the latest HSBC Czech Republic Manufacturing PMI, with the index dropping to 49.7 in April from 52.1 in March.
“The April PMI index has recorded a setback following improving readings through the first quarter of the year. This is in line with worsening trend in PMI reading in Germany, the Czech Republic’s main trading partner,” said Agata Urbanska, Economist, Central &Eastern Europe at HSBC, in a press statement.
New export orders fell for the sixth successive month, according to the index, and manufacturers in the country trimmed their work forces: It was the fifth time in the past six months that employment in the sector had contracted (albeit marginally).
“Worsening of the business conditions in April has been driven by declining output index and new orders index. The new export orders, in contrast, worsened only marginally,” Urbanska said. “Given the fiscal tightening efforts in the Czech Republic this and next year, the impulse for growth needs to come from abroad.”
