Financial Tribune - The Purchasing Managers' Index for the 12th month of last fiscal year (Feb. 20-March 19) settled at 42.48 from 56.14 in the preceding month (Jan. 21-Feb. 19), indicating a 13.66-point or 32.15% decrease month-on-month.

The announcement was made by the Statistics and Economic Analysis Center of Iran Chamber of Commerce, Industries, Mines and Agriculture.

The center is measuring PMI, known by its Farsi acronym Shamekh, in Iran for the past 18 months.

PMI is an indicator of economic health for manufacturing and services sectors. It provides information about current business conditions to companies� decision-makers, analysts and purchasing managers.

The headline PMI is a number from 0 to 100, such that over 50 represents an expansion when compared with the previous month. A PMI reading under 50 indicates contraction and a reading of 50 implies no change.