Dubai’s economy holding up well amid the global slowdown – The National

Dubai’s economy holding up well amid the global slowdown – The National

The global economy is slowing. The latest JP Morgan global composite purchasing managers’ index slipped into contraction territory in August for the first time since June 2020.

Surging inflation in developed economies is weighing on growth and higher interest rates are contributing to the slowdown. In China, where inflation remains low by global standards, the Covid-zero policy has been the main drag on activity.

Despite the weakening global economic data, the UAE’s non-oil sector appears to be relatively resilient year to date.

The Dubai PMI rose to a new three-year high in August on strong growth in business activity and new work. Both the travel and tourism and the wholesale and retail sectors showed an improvement in business conditions last month and lower fuel prices have led to easing cost pressures on companies.

The number of international visitors to Dubai exceeded 8 million in the year to July, a sharp improvement on last year as global travel restrictions have eased, but still around 15 per cent below pre-pandemic levels.

The rebound in the tourism sector is also reflected in sharply higher hotel occupancy levels in both Dubai (71.7 per cent) and Abu Dhabi (68.2 per cent) in the first seven months of this year.

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