Dubai - Mubasher: The UAE’s non-oil sector hiked in January to its highest level in seven months, supported by higher growth rates in output and new orders, contributing to a positive start for 2019, according to a survey sponsored by Emirates NBD and produced by IHS Markit.
The headline seasonally adjusted Emirates NBD purchasing managers’ index (PMI) registered an increase in the UAE’s non-oil activity to 56.3 in January, up from 54.0 in December.
Total new orders rose sharply in the first month of this year, while the rate of growth in new export orders registered the slowest pace in the current ten-month sequence of expansion, the survey found.
“The output price index remained below the neutral 50-level in January, signalling another month of lower average selling prices in the UAE, although the extent of price discounting in January was slight,” head of MENA research at Emirates NBD Khatija Haque commented.
In terms of employment in the UAE’s non-oil private sector, less than 3% of companies raised jobs in January, as part of efforts to reduce costs, Haque noted.
“The stock of pre-production inventories declined for the second month in a row, she said, noting that “firms are managing their inventories more efficiently, and not building up stocks in anticipation of future demand.”
Output prices retreated for the eighth time in the last nine months, as “panellists reported having offered discounts to customers in order to help stimulate sales amid competitive market conditions,” the report added.
Business optimism about future output of the GCC nation’s non-oil sector remained high in January, as more than 68% of companies forecast their output “to be higher in a year’s time”.
