The data of the August PMI study showed a strong expansion in the Saudi non-oil economy, but with growth slowing from July due to weak production expansion for months, and new orders also rising to a lesser extent due to the decline in the level of recovery demand for exports.
According to Arabiya Net, the IHS Markit Group, which issued the Purchasing Managers' Index, said in its report today, Sunday, that Saudi companies continued to report high levels of excess capacity and weak expectations. As for future production, as a result, employment growth remained subdued while inventories of purchases rose at the slowest pace since last October.
At the same time, she added, production prices rose at the strongest rate in a year, despite a modest increase in the cost of production inputs.
The seasonally adjusted PMI in Saudi Arabia scored 54.1 points last August, compared to 55.8 points in July 2021.
The reading indicated a strong improvement in the conditions of the non-oil private sector, albeit the slowest in 5 months.
The 1.7 point drop in the PMI was driven by the production index, which fell sharply to its lowest level since October 2020, yet the index still indicated A strong rise in non-oil activity, which companies participating in the study generally linked to demands for improvements and travel easing.
New business continued to grow sharply during the month, although growth slowed from July, as was production, in part due to a slight increase. In export sales, the emergence of COVID-19 cases in other parts of the world dampened the recovery in foreign demand.
