Russia’s services sector grew at a faster rate in November. The S&P Global Russia Services PMI Business Activity Index rose to 52.2, up from 51.7 in October. This marked the sector’s strongest growth in the past six months.
The improvement came mainly from a renewed rise in new business. This increase ended a four-month stretch of declining demand. Service providers linked the stronger performance to higher customer interest and new clients gained through referrals.
The rise in new orders also created pressure on capacity. Backlogs of work increased for the second month in a row. Although the latest rise was the sharpest since June, it remained modest overall.
To manage growing workloads, service firms continued hiring in November. However, the pace of job creation slowed to a four-month low. Most companies said they were hiring full-time staff to meet ongoing business needs.
Input costs kept rising at a strong pace. Higher wages and increased supplier prices were the main contributors. Even so, inflation remained softer than its long-term average. Output charges also went up, but at a slower rate, as firms passed part of their higher costs on to clients.
Business sentiment improved from October’s 34-month low. Companies planned to introduce new products and expand customer outreach. Despite this improvement, overall optimism remained weaker than historical levels.
The S&P Global Russia Composite PMI Output Index, which tracks both manufacturing and services, reached 50.1 in November. This was almost unchanged from 50.2 in October. The data showed that private-sector activity was broadly stagnant. While services gained momentum, the improvement was nearly offset by a faster contraction in manufacturing output.
