Saudia wins top honors in global sustainability challenge

Saudia wins top honors in global sustainability challenge

RIYADH: Egypt’s economic landscape faced fresh challenges in October as the North African country’s Purchasing Managers’ Index dropped to a five-month low, standing at 47.9.  

The S&P Global Egypt PMI report reflected a 0.8-point decline from the previous month’s 48.7, signaling a deterioration in the non-oil private sector.  

Furthermore, new order intakes plunged deeper into negative territory, with an increasing number of companies reporting a decrease in new work, as indicated in the report. 

Concurrently, employment numbers experienced a modest decrease, the fastest rate of decline since February, while inventory levels fell. 

On a more positive note, backlogs of work increased in October, though to a lesser degree than in the previous month. In September, backlogs of work rose at the fastest rate on record. Work-in-hand has now seen growth for four consecutive months. 

“Expectations towards the year-ahead outlook for activity improved to their highest in 2023 so far in October, after reaching record lows earlier this year. Firms were moderately hopeful of a recovery in economic conditions, with 13 percent of respondents predicting growth for the next 12 months,” the report added. 

Additionally, Fitch Ratings downgraded Egypt’s long-term foreign-currency issuer default rating from "B" to "B-" while maintaining a stable outlook. 

According to the firm’s report, the