The reading is the latest to indicate the nation’s post-Covid recovery is running off the tracks owing to a decline in overseas demand as well as a drop-off in consumption at home.

The official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index (PMI) — a key measure of factory output — came in at 49.7 in August, below the 50-point mark that separates expansion and contraction, according to the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

Source: RFI