The Purchasing Managers' Index for Iran’s economy experienced a significant drop in the first month of the current fiscal year (March 21-April 20), new data released by the Statistics and Economic Analysis Center of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture show.
The index settled at 42.04 from 56.79 registered in the previous month, indicating a 14.75-point or 25.97% decrease.
Most sub-indexes indicated recession as they do every year in the first month of the year that coincides with the long Iranian New Year holidays (starting March 21), which last more than two weeks.
“This year, however, most companies experienced longer shutdowns due to volatile foreign exchange rates against the rial and problems related to procuring raw materials, besides the fact that Norouz holidays coincided with Ramadan,” ICCIMA reported, adding that expectations for improvement of conditions in the second month of the year are higher.
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