Stanbic IBTC Bank PMI Reads 56.4 Points in September 2026

By Aduragbemi Omiyale

The Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) of Stanbic IBTC Bank clocked at 56.4 points in September 2026, higher than the 54.3 points recorded in August 2026, signalling strengthening growth momentum in Nigeria’s private sector as a rapid rise in new orders spurred the fastest increase in business activity since February 2022.

A statement from the lender also said improving customer demand and the launch of new products helped lead to an eighth consecutive monthly rise in new business, which, in turn, increased business activity at the sharpest pace since that month.

“Overall business conditions improved significantly in September, with the headline PMI (56.4 points vs August: 54.3 points) rising to a level not seen since February 2022 (57.3 points), thereby ensuring a better third quarter for business activities relative to the second quarter of the year.

“Indeed, all the four sectors monitored by the survey recorded significant improvement in September, as firms noted improving customer demands as ensuring they secure new orders during the period while also introducing new products into the market.

“Based on this, companies also increased the pace of hiring although the bulk of these workers were hired on a temporary basis to complete specific tasks,” the Head of Equity Research for West Africa at Stanbic IBTC Bank, Mr Muyiwa Oni, stated.

Commenting further, he said, “Elsewhere, higher fuel prices continue to feed into an increase in transport costs. This, in addition to increase in raw material prices, rising staff costs, as well as the prices of other food products helped to ensure that input costs maintained their uptrend. This then fed into output prices increasing to a three-month high in September.

“The strong end to the quarter implies that the PMI prints in Q3:26 are consistent with a likely 4.56% y/y GDP growth in Q3:26, taking the full year 2026 growth estimate to approximately 4.4% y/y from 3.87% y/y recorded in 2025.

“The non-oil sector is expected to perform better in 2026 compared to 2025 as more sectors contribute to improvement in GDP growth rate this year.

“Among the three broad sectors of the economy, we expect the manufacturing sector to see the biggest boost to its growth amid the low statistical base effects from 2025 while ICT, trade, real estate, and finance & insurance will likely remain the biggest drivers of the services sector’s growth.”