CBN: Nigeria’s economic activity expands for third month as composite PMI rises to 52.7

Nigeria’s overall economic activity expanded for the third consecutive month in August 2026, with the Composite Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) rising to 52.7 points from 51.1 points in July.

This is according to the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN).

The latest reading signals a further improvement in business activity, with the expansion supported mainly by the Services and Agriculture sectors and a return to growth in Industry.

The CBN said the August reading points to a modest recovery in economic activity, with key components including output, employment and new orders remaining above the 50-point threshold that separates expansion from contraction.

What the report is saying

The apex bank noted that Industry PMI rose to 50.6 points in August, signalling a return to expansion after the sector recorded contractions from April.

• However, the recovery remained uneven. Of the 16 industrial subsectors surveyed, five recorded growth while 11 contracted. Oil Refining recorded the strongest expansion, while Motor Vehicles & Assembly posted the steepest decline.
• The Services PMI increased to 53.3 points, marking the second consecutive month of expansion after three months of contraction. Nine of the 11 subsectors surveyed expanded, with Administrative and Support Services recording the strongest growth, while Professional, Scientific & Technical Services recorded the sharpest contraction.
• Agriculture remained the strongest-performing sector, with its PMI rising to 53.4 points, extending its expansion streak to 25 consecutive months. All five agricultural subsectors recorded growth, with Forestry posting the strongest expansion.
• Within the agriculture sector, General Farming Activities recorded an index of 56.5 points, while New Orders, Employment and Inventories stood at 53.2, 52.7 and 51.2 points respectively.

Across the Composite PMI, the Output Index stood at 53.9 points, New Orders at 51.8 points and Employment at 52.4 points, indicating continued expansion across the major components of economic activity.

• The Stock of Raw Materials Index also remained expansionary at 51.6 points, while the Suppliers’ Delivery Time Index rose to 53.3 points, indicating faster supplier response times and improved supply-chain efficiency.

The August PMI performance shows that the recovery in overall economic activity is being driven primarily by sectors that have maintained relatively stronger momentum.

• Agriculture’s 25-month expansion streak provides a sustained base for overall activity, while the return of Services to growth for a second month suggests that business activity in the sector is continuing to recover from the contractions recorded earlier in the year.
• The industrial sector, meanwhile, is showing signs of stabilisation despite most of its subsectors remaining in contraction.

The CBN noted that 19 subsectors recorded expansions during the month, with Oil Refining registering the strongest growth.

On prices, the Composite PMI input price index declined by 0.2 points, while the output price index increased by 1.0 point. The CBN noted that output prices in the Services and Agriculture sectors increased more rapidly than their respective input price indices.

Get up to speed

Earlier, Stanbic IBTC Bank Nigeria in its Purchasing Managers’ Index report noted that Nigeria’s private sector recorded its strongest improvement in business conditions in 29 months in August 2026.

• The reading was the joint-highest in just over two-and-a-half years, matching the level recorded in March 2025.
• Stanbic IBTC said the PMI readings so far in the third quarter point to stronger economic activity and could support 4.1% GDP growth in 2026.

The bank expects the non-oil sector to expand by 4.11% in 2026, up from 3.71% in 2025, while oil-sector growth is projected to slow to 3.45% from 8.50%.

What you should know

Nairametrics earlier reported that Nigeria’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) grew by 4.43% year-on-year in real terms in the second quarter of 2026, up from 4.23% recorded in the corresponding quarter of 2025, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

The latest growth rate represents a 0.20 percentage-point improvement from a year earlier, pointing to a modest expansion in overall economic activity.

The performance was supported by stronger growth in agriculture and services, while growth in the industrial sector slowed significantly compared with the same period in 2025.