Cairo – Mubasher: Activity in Egypt’s non-oil private sector rose in April 2018, with stabilisation in output and higher export orders, a recent survey showed on Thursday.
At the price level, input cost inflation slowed to the weakest since May 2015, while charge inflation reached its four-month low, according to a recent survey sponsored by Emirates NBD and produced by IHS Markit.
The seasonally adjusted Emirates NBD Egypt Purchasing Managers’ Index™ (PMI) rose to 50.1 last month from 49.2 in March.
A reading above 50 indicates expansion, while a reading below that signals contraction.
The data is another sign of a broad stabilisation in operating conditions, ending a four-month of deterioration, the survey found.
In April, the PMI broached the 50.0-threshold for only the second time in 31 months which highlighted that the “non-oil private sector is finally starting to contribute to the positive growth story underway in the country,” Daniel Richards, MENA Economist at Emirates NBD, said.
He expected that the PMI is to “be more consistently positive over the coming quarters, as ongoing economic reforms and loosening monetary policy encourage greater private sector activity.”
Meanwhile, new export orders increased further, stretching the current period of expansion in exports to four months, according to the survey. It has showed that international demand for Egyptian goods and services is on the rise.
The survey highlighted that the non-oil private sector companies operating in the North African nation faced a further rise in overall input costs in April due to higher purchasing prices and staff costs.
“Although sharp, the rate of overall input cost inflation eased to the weakest since May 2015 and was below its average,” it added.
Though the firms raised their selling prices, the rate of inflation was modest and slowed to the lowest since December 2017.
“Egyptian non-oil private sector firms continued to signal lower payroll numbers at the start of the second quarter. Where staffing levels decreased, there were reports of staff either retiring or leaving in search of better job opportunities,” the survey showed.
The figures demonstrated that business sentiment towards the 12-month outlook for output strengthened in April, compared to the recent low in the previous month.
