Riyadh – Mubasher: Saudi Arabia’s non-oil private sector witnessed strong growth in business activity in April for the fourth straight month, hitting its highest level since December 2017, according to a report compiled by IHS Markit for Emirates NBD PJSC.
The seasonally adjusted Emirates NBD Saudi Arabia Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) recorded 56.8 in April for the second month in a row, the report said. A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below that signals contraction.
“Output and new order growth remained firm, but there has been no meaningful growth in private sector employment over the last three months,” despite strong demand and rising business confidence, Khatija Haque, head of MENA Research at Emirates NBD, said.
However, employment in the non-oil private sector remained generally unchanged at the beginning of the second quarter of 2019 after rising fractionally in April to experience its worst sequence of data for five years.
The report highlighted that business confidence towards future production recovered from a six-month low in March with the highest levels of optimism in the last five years.
“Firms are also discounting prices more aggressively in a sign of an increasingly competitive environment. The decline in selling prices likely supported output and new order growth in April,” Haque added.
