Dubai’s non-oil private sector businesses marked robust growth in April – PMI

Dubai’s non-oil private sector businesses marked robust growth in April – PMI

Business conditions in Dubai’s non-oil private sector economy maintained a strong pace of improvement in the first month after the Expo 2020 ended, led by a sharp increase in output levels, a survey showed on Friday.

The seasonally adjusted S&P Global Dubai Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) registered at 54.7 in April, down from 55.5 in March, its first drop since January. The indicator stayed above the 50 no-change mark for the 17th consecutive month,

"The Dubai PMI dropped only slightly from March's 33-month high in April, as businesses indicated that the relaxing of COVID-19 measures continued to have a positive impact on demand. The upturn was also encouraging considering that the Expo 2020 has now finished and that overall new business growth, including in the travel & tourism industry, remained strong,” said David Owen, economist at S&P Global.

The Output Index remained strong in April, and despite a slight softening from the previous month, the rate of growth was the second-quickest seen since July 2019. This was due to a sharp rise in customer sales as the economy recovered further from COVID-19 measures, said the survey panelists.

New orders were added at a marked pace during April, only marginally slower than in March. However,