The international financial services company reported on Thursday that the Polish PMI sank to a 27-month low of 40.9 in August, from 42.1 in July.
"August marked another challenging month for Polish manufacturers," S&P Global said.
It added that both output and new orders "fell at rates not seen since the height of the first pandemic wave in 2020," while "job losses were again recorded as confidence about the future remained subdued."
Paul Smith, economics director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, was cited as saying that "Poland's manufacturing economy remained mired in deep contraction territory during August, amid reports of an increasingly difficult business climate characterised by high inflation, reduced purchasing power, and general market instability."
He added that these factors "played out in generating the sharpest falls in both output and demand since May 2020."
Poland’s PMI in April 2020 fell to its lowest level on record amid virus fears, sinking to 31.9 from 42.4 a month earlier at the height of the COVID-19 crisis.
The PMI is a composite indicator of manufacturing performance evaluated on the basis of new orders, output, employment, suppliers’ delivery times and stocks of purchases.
Any figure greater than 50 indicates overall improvement of the sector.
(gs)
Source: PAP, pmi.spglobal.com