NEW YORK — The September’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) data issued by S&P Global data from S&P Global indicated the continued significant expansion in the growth of Saudi Arabia’s non-oil private sector.

The economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, David Owen has stated that “Albeit down on August, Saudi Arabia’s non-oil private sector economy retained an impressive pace of growth during September, especially against the backdrop of increasingly challenging global economic conditions.”

The Saudi Purchasing Managers’ Index issued by S&P Global scored about 56.6 points last September. The report indicated, ”Although down on August’s 57.7, the PMI signaled an improvement in the health of the Saudi Arabian non-oil private sector economy for a 25 successive month”.

Readings above the 50.0 no-change mark signal growth, whereas those below 50.0 signal a contraction, S&P reported.

The Data of S&P stated that the growth was underpinned by strong gains in both output and new orders.

The output and new orders remained firmly inside positive territory during September, and the S&P added, “This helped to drive overall output upwards.”

Both sales and production have risen for 25 consecutive months, as sector data pointed to broad-based continuing increases in the non-oil private sector economy.

Stocks of purchases increased, although growth slowed significantly, falling to its lowest level since November 2021.

The report indicated that firms’ continued ability to keep pace with workloads is one of the reasons that restricted the growth of employment levels, as the backlog of work decreased for the fourth consecutive month, again at a steady rate.

Additionally, the non-oil businesses recorded another month of strong input price inflation.

Staffing expenses also increased, but only marginally and at the slowest rate since June. The report noted that the construction companies reported by far the biggest rises in costs in September.

As for firms’ confidence, S&P said companies retained a high degree of confidence that production would continue to increase over the next 12 months. 

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