The latest business survey indicates that the UAE’s Non-Oil Sector experienced a boost in June, with output and new orders reaching their highest level in four years.
According to the seasonally adjusted S&P Global UAE Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), the index rose to 56.9 in June, showing consistent improvement for the past 31 survey periods.
Andrew Harker, Economics Director at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said: “The ability of firms to secure increasing volumes of new business continued unabated in June, with growth of new work actually accelerating to a four-year high. Given that input costs are rising, the sustainability of the offer of discounts to customers, on which some of this growth was predicated, may be in question in the long term.
The data from the survey showed that businesses in the UAE continued their efforts to remain competitive in pricing, as evidenced by the decline in output charges for the fourteenth consecutive month in June.
On the other hand, input prices increased for the fifth consecutive month. In terms of employment, job opportunities saw an increase in June, extending the ongoing trend of job creation for 14 months. Growing workloads and the hiring of additional sales staff attributed to the higher staffing levels.
“The extent of the inflows in new work was such that backlogs of work continued to rise in June despite a ramping up of activity, further job creation and an expansion of purchasing activity,” Harker said.
“This should therefore support further increases in staffing levels in the months to come as firms try to keep on top of workloads,” he added.
The UAE’s non-oil sector remained strong in June, with robust output and a surge in new orders. The S&P Global UAE PMI rose to 56.9, indicating sustained improvement over 31 survey periods. Input prices increased, while output charges declined.
