BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 22. March proved to be a promising month for the economy of Kazakhstan as the composite output Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) soared to 51.7, surpassing the previous month's figure of 48.0 and breaching the crucial threshold of 50.0, Trend reports.
According to the World Bank, the upturn in the composite PMI was primarily driven by strong business activity in the services sector, indicating an overall improvement in output levels.
As the bank noted, the latest data released by the Kazakh government showcased a preliminary year-on-year expansion of 4.9 percent in real GDP during the first quarter. This growth was largely attributed to the remarkable performance of the manufacturing and services sectors.
Notably, several sub-sectors within these industries made significant contributions to the overall economic growth. The food and beverages sector exhibited an expansion of 8.1 percent, while the petroleum and chemical sub-sector experienced a solid growth rate of 4 percent. Furthermore, the pharmaceutical products segment demonstrated an impressive growth rate of 8.1 percent.