UAE non-oil sector activity hits four-month high

The Emirates NBD United Arab Emirates (UAE) Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) climbed to a four-month high of 54.5 in March, driven by total new work while exports were fickle, said the UAE's first lender Emirates NBD on Tuesday.

The Emirates NBD UAE PMI, a composite indicator designed to give an accurate overview of operating conditions in the non-oil private sector economy, signalled a second consecutive pick-up in the rate of improvement in the health of the UAE's non-oil private sector.

A level above 50 means an expanding economy and vice versa.

Business conditions improved at the strongest pace in four months, mainly driven by sharper rises in output and new orders, said the report.

Notably, total new work increased more quickly in spite of a renewed fall in exports, the first in six months.

This led Khatija Haque, Head of Middle East and North Africa Research at Emirates NBD, to say that despite the green shoots, there was no time for complacency.

"While the improvement in the Emirates NBD UAE PMI in March is encouraging, the average PMI for the first quarter 2016 signals a further slowdown in the non-oil private sector of the UAE at the start of this year," she said.

Haque added that nevertheless "the solid growth in output and new orders in the first quarter suggests that domestic demand is holding up well despite the headwinds of a strong USD and low oil prices."

Both employment and input stocks remained in growth territory, but the respective rates of expansion eased slightly. On the price front, input costs rose only modestly, meaning that companies were able to reduce their tariffs amid greater competition.

The UAE, a major oil supplier, derives 71 percent of its domestic economic activity from the non-oil sector. Endit