Riyadh – Mubasher: The Saudi non-oil private sector saw a robust upturn, backed by the growth of production and new orders in December 2017, Emirates NBD’s report said on Thursday.
The headline seasonally adjusted Emirates NBD Saudi Arabia Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell to 57.3 points during December, from 57.5 in November.
The PMI survey showed a strong rate of expansion in December and the data demonstrates the accelerated growth of the non-oil sector in the fourth quarter of 2017, Khatija Haque, Head of MENA Research at Emirates NBD said.
“We expect headline GDP growth to be close to zero in 2017 as substantial oil production cuts will offset the expansion in the non-oil sectors of the economy. We are more optimistic about growth prospects in 2018 however,” Haque added.
The kingdom’s non-oil private sector companies continued to report steep rates of expansion in output.
Inflows of new companies in the non-oil private levelled up in December.
“New export orders expanded during December, thereby extending the current sequence of growth to five months. Furthermore, the rate of increase accelerated to its fastest since August,” the report added.
In December, the firms in Saudi non-oil private sector continued hiring additional staff.
The Kingdom’s inflation grew in December.
The demand for raw materials rose which led suppliers to raise prices.
