PMI Plunges to 6-Month Low

The Purchasing Managers’ Index, known by its Farsi acronym Shamekh, for Iran’s overall economy tumbled to 31.39 for the 12th month of the last fiscal year (Feb. 20-March 19, 2020), indicating the biggest monthly drop since the index was first calculated by the Statistics and Economic Analysis Center of the Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture in October 2019.
The overall PMI for the economy improved from 44.26 in the month leading to Jan. 20, to 47.62 in the month ending Feb. 19, but plummeted to 31.39 in the month ending March 19, as business activities in the country collapsed following the outbreak of the novel coronavirus. 
The center says the numbers point to an economic contraction of 51.7% or 16.23 points month-on-month.