He Monthly Index of Manufacturing Activity (IMAM) of the Association of Industries of the Dominican Republic (AIRD) experienced a decline last January 2023 in relation to the month of December 2022 by going from 54.5 to 49.8, showing drops in the variables that make it up, the business association reported in a press release.
He imam is an adaptation of the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) to the reality of the Dominican manufacturing sector, constituting a portrait of the manufacturing activity of a month in relation to the previous one. It is required that when the imam is located below the threshold of 50 points reflects that the conditions and economic prospects of the manufacturing sector are considered “not favorable”. Above 50.0, the outlook is favourable.
In the report of the AIRD explains that “it is normal for the imam fluctuates on certain occasions, both due to internal and external conjunctural factors”. In this sense, the entity expects that within the external incidence factors, the raw Materials continue to drop to pre-pandemic levels.
In addition, he highlighted that the pause of the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic (BCRD) in the rise of interest rates for the fourth consecutive month indicates that inflation could continue to decline. “According to data from the Central Bank, year-on-year inflation decreased from 9.64% in April 2022 to 6.38% in February 2023,” the text states.
About the IMAM
The variables that are used for the conformation of the IMAN, and with which the balance of opinionare:
- sales volume
- Output
- employment behavior
- Delivery period taken by suppliers
- Behavior of input inventories
- Raw materials from one month in relation to the other
Collection in first 20 days
The index is built through monthly surveys carried out on the general directors and/or purchasing managers of the companies associated with the AIRD. The data is collected the first 20 days of the following month through internet surveys.
The preparation of the analysis includes consultations and surveys of industrialists, as well as data collection through publications on the behavior and performance of the various sectors, information with which the association foresees the trends of the economic progress and makes it possible to take measures in the “convenient” direction.
Due to the possibility of carrying out the surveys and receiving their responses quickly, this indicator allows obtaining information on economic trends prior to the publication of statistics officers and serves as reference for the economists themselves, opinion makers and decision makers, highlights the document.
