DUBAI: UAE Purchasing Manager’s Index (PMI) data for March signalled a second consecutive pick-up in the rate of improvement in the health of the UAE’s non-oil private sector. Business conditions improved at the strongest pace in four months, mainly driven by sharper rises in output and new orders.
Total new work increased more quickly in spite of a renewed fall in exports. Both employment and input stocks remained in growth territory, but the respective rates of expansion eased slightly. On the price front, input costs rose only modestly, meaning that companies were able to reduce their tariffs amid greater competition.
“While the improvement in the Emirates NBD UAE PMI in March is encouraging, the average PMI for Q1 2016 signals a further slowdown in the non-oil private sector of the UAE at the start of this year.
Nevertheless, the solid growth in output and new orders in the first quarter suggests that domestic demand is holding up well despite the headwinds of a strong USD and low oil prices,” said Khatija Haque, Head of MENA Research at Emirates NBD.
The PMI for March climbed to a four-month high of 54.5, up from 53.1 in February, the latest figure indicated that growth had continued to rebound from January’s near-four year low. That said, the improvement in business conditions across the first quarter (53.4) was the weakest on average since Q1 2012. Growth of the non-oil private sector as a whole was supported by higher output and new work during March.
Employment in the UAE’s non-oil private sector increased further in March, extending the current sequence of job creation to 51 months. Prices data pointed to subdued cost pressures in March.
