CBK introduces innovative PMI questionnaire to transform economic analysis

25/09/2023

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KUWAIT CITY, Sept 25: The Central Bank of Kuwait (CBK) said on Monday that it had developed a questionnaire for the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI). The index enables prompt data collection, processing and analyses to be produced in the form of timely and accurate periodic reports reflecting the real developments of the economic activity in the State of Kuwait.

This came in a press statement by the Governor of the CBK Basel A. Al-Haroon, announcing that the success of this initiative shall be the outcome of the collaboration between CBK and the respondents from the various Kuwaiti economic sectors. The prominence of the PMI resides in its ability to assess the progress of economic performance with precision due to its periodicity (on a monthly basis).
PMI is usually issued before the release of official data on macroeconomic variables to help economists and stakeholders in predicting economic trends in the State of Kuwait.

In addition, PMI is considered as one of the most significant economic data in the global markets for better understanding of the different economies’ and markets’ trends. Consequently, many central banks employ the index to make monetary policy decisions. The CBK PMI’s results are drawn up in a questionnaire that includes (nine index-related close-ended questions, one close-ended question on expectations of business prospects at the local and global levels, and four open-ended questions).
All these questions are addressed to the purchasing managers of a different group of Kuwait-based companies engaged in production and service activities. (KUNA)

In addition, PMI, which is scheduled to inaugurate in October 2023, exhibits the trends or changes in the given activity in September 2023. The index’s trends and results shall not be published and shall be for internal use only during the pilot phase (six months), to be re-assessed before made available to the public. The pilot index will be applied to a small sample of carefully selected companies. (KUNA)