DUBAI Reuters - The United Arab Emirates' non-oil private sector maintained a brisk activity growth in September, albeit at a slightly slower pace than August as new business drove gains in output and employment, a survey showed on Wednesday.
The seasonally adjusted S&P Global UAE Purchasing Managers' Index PMI fell to 56.1 in September from 56.7 in August, which was a 38 month high and well above the series average of 54.2 since 2009, according to the seasonally adjusted S&P Global UAE Purchasing Managers' Index.
David Owen, economist at survey compiler S&P Global Market Intelligence, said that despite the slight fall in the index, it was nonetheless indicative of a strong pace of improvement in the non-oil economy.
Domestic businesses are well aware of the economic storms in other regions, helped by above-trend growth in output and new business as the country continues to recover from the Pandemic, according to these findings. In September, the output sub-index that measures business activity fell to 61.7 from 64.5 in August, which was its highest since June 2019.
Employment fell to 51.4 in September, down from 51.5 in August, the sub-index's strongest reading since August 2021.
In September, Owen wrote that the September data showed that inflation had come off the boil since the first half of the year, and that low price pressures are helping to drive growth.
Despite the fact that input costs went up in August, they did only slightly, as downward movements for commodity prices helped to ease the burden on firms' procurement budgets. Input purchasing increased at the fastest rate for over three years, helping to boost inventories and support both higher new orders and stronger output expectations for the next 12 months. Expectations for output over the next 12 months went up in September to the sub-index's highest reading since June.