UAE: PMI rises to 10-month high in February
The IHS Markit Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) came in at 54.8 in February, up from January’s 54.1. Consequently, the index moved further above the 50-threshold, signaling a faster improvement in business conditions compared to the previous month.
The stronger reading was primarily due to faster output and new orders growth, amid a resurgence in demand and travel taking place during the ongoing Expo 2020, and as the recent global wave of Omicron gradually subsides. As business optimism rose to a four-month high, stocks of purchases growth also surged to its highest level in two-and-a-half years. Meanwhile, supplier delivery times eased by the most marked amount since July 2020, even despite continued shipping disruptions. Less positively, firms struggled to clear backlogs given rising raw materials prices, global supply bottlenecks, and weak hiring—with employment growth flat over the last month.
On the reading, IHS Markit’s David Owen commented:
“Growth in the UAE non-oil economy continued to run at a strong clip in February, with the PMI up […] but remaining slightly lower than the post-Covid-19 highs seen during the final quarter of 2021. The upsurge was widely linked to rising client demand, with businesses also pointing to growth in tourism as the Expo 2020 continued and countries loosened their travel measures.”