The SABB/HSBC Emerging Markets Index (EMI), an economic indicator derived from the PMI™ surveys, fell to 51.3 in April, from March's 52.5. That signalled a slowdown in economic growth in global emerging markets, to the weakest for over a year-and-a-half. Data broken down by broad economic sector showed similarly weak growth rates for manufacturing output and services activity.
Three of the four BRIC nations registered slower output growth in April, most notably in China. The exception was Brazil, although its rate of expansion remained modest overall. Elsewhere, manufacturing output growth slowed in the majority of economies covered.
The SABB/HSBC EMI Index registered new business growth slowed to the weakest since last August. Notably, the rate of expansion in the service sector slowed to the weakest since May 2009, the start of the current growth sequence.
Employment barely rose in April, with the rate of growth the joint-weakest in the post-crisis period. Meanwhile, the volume of outstanding business declined for the twelfth month in a row.
Cost pressures were at their weakest in nearly four years of rising input prices. Manufacturers' input prices declined for the first time since September. Meanwhile, prices charged for goods and services declined marginally, following a seven-month sequence of inflation.
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