Dubai PMI rises in December to its highest level since June 2019
The travel and tourism sector continued to lead in terms of sales growth.
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The Dubai Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) of IHS Markit rose from 54.5 points in November to 55.3 points in December, reaching its highest level since June 2019.
IHS Markit said in a recent report that the index that measures the performance of the non-oil private sector continued to indicate a strong improvement in business conditions, explaining that the rise was driven by the strong increase in new order volumes in the non-oil economy.
She indicated that companies continued to enjoy strong demand from the tourism sector and the easing of “Covid-19” measures, despite the fact that a much faster rise in the prices of production inputs was recorded, which led to pressure on companies’ profit margins and limit their ability to purchase additional production requirements.
She added that uncertainty about the pandemic has dampened optimism about the year ahead.
The results of the index showed, during last December, that the rise in new business was often driven by the recent easing of travel restrictions, which, along with the “Expo 2020 Dubai” exhibition, led to an increase in demand from the tourism sector, in addition to the improvement in local sales with the growth of confidence consumer.
The travel and tourism sector continued to lead in terms of sales growth, closely followed by the wholesale and retail sector.
New business in construction companies also rose at the fastest rate since February, but it remained lower than that of the travel and tourism sector and the wholesale and retail sector.
Production in the non-oil economy increased sharply in the last month of the year, expanding slightly less than the peak recorded in October.
The backlog of work continued to rise strongly as companies faced difficulties in fulfilling their orders.
There were some efforts to increase hiring capacity in December, and the latest data pointed to a renewed increase in hiring.
The volume of production inputs purchased by non-oil producing companies was unchanged, ending a five-month streak of growth and leading to a slight decrease in inventory levels.
The high prices of raw materials often limited purchasing activity.
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