Bank Hapoalim: PMI indicates recession moderating

The PMI index rose last month by 7.1% to a level of 42.6%. Economists at Bank Hapoalim: indices pointing to stabilization and perhaps a turning point
 
The economic department at Bank Hapoalim, Israel's second largest bank, published last week it's May 09 Procurement Managers' Index (PMI).
 
The PMI index rose last month by 7.1% to a level of 42.6%. This is the fourteenth consecutive month that the Index has been under 50%, which separates economic growth from economic contraction.
 
In recent months, though, there has been a noticeable improvement, as the index rose 14.6% from its December 2008 low.
 
Economists at Bank Hapoalim - which compiles the PMI Index, along with the Israel Purchasing and Logistics Managers Association - said that procurement manager indices in Israel, and around the world, are currently a ray of light, pointing to stabilization and perhaps a turning point in economic activity.
 
The bank noted that the levels of all the components of the PMI index continued to point to contraction. Manufacturing output, domestic demand, employment, and price levels fell at rates that pointed to a slow down of the pace of contraction.
 
In contrary to the PMI index, Prof. Rafi Melnick of the Arison School of Business at the Interdisciplinary Center, Herzliya, published last week his own economic activity index, better known as the Melnick Index, which fell by 0.7% in May 2009, indicating aworsening situation.