Dubai: The UAE’s non-oil private sector remained in growth territory at the start of the third quarter of the year, although there were signs of rates of expansion softening, according to the latest Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI).
The UAE PMI report published by IHS Markit showed the headline PMI for July was 55.1. The reading was down from 57.7 in June, however, and the lowest since February.
The report noted that employment continued to rise at only a marginal pace and in a number of cases, new business was only secured as a result of price discounting.
Survey data showed marked increases in business activity and new orders were registered in July, although in both cases rates of expansion continued to soften from recent highs.
“While the latest UAE PMI data pointed to ongoing rises in both business activity and new orders in July, rates of growth took a step back from those seen in the second quarter of the year. Once again, companies were at least partly reliant on price discounting to secure new orders, suggesting some weakness in underlying demand. They were helped in this regard by a lack of cost inflation in July,” said Andrew Harker, Associate Director at IHS Markit and author of the report.
