Kazakhstan’s manufacturing sector in September saw the fastest rise in output in 18-months, according to the monthly Kazakhstan Manufacturing Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), produced by a partnership of S&P Global and Freedom Holding.

The PMI was recorded at 52.3, above the 50.0 no-change mark, down from August’s 53.3.

“Kazakhstan's manufacturing sector remained comfortably inside growth territory at the end of the third quarter. Buoyant demand conditions supported further solid increases in new orders and production, the latter rising at the fastest pace since March 2023. In a bid to stay on top of workloads, firms took on extra staff and expanded purchasing activity,” an accompanying statement to the survey said.

“On a less positive note, business confidence continued to wane and was the lowest since December 2021,” the statement added.

Yerlan Abdikarimov, director of the financial analysis department at Freedom Finance Global (100% subsidiary of Freedom Holding), said: "The overall condition of the manufacturing industry in September remains at a relatively high level, despite a slight decline compared to the record level reached in August. The increase in output volumes, which has been the highest in the past year and a half, is one of the key factors supporting the sector.

"Such an increase is associated with increased demand. Enterprises have begun processing the new orders they secured earlier, for which staffing was being recruited at a high rate in recent months. Such active dynamics led to the depletion in stocks of finished goods, which fell to their lowest level this year. As we can see, this did not seriously affect output prices and is unlikely to lead to a significant deterioration in the sector in the coming months."