New business continues to underpin confidence: QFC - The Peninsula Qatar

New business continues to underpin confidence: QFC - The Peninsula Qatar:

The most recent Qatar Financial Centre’s (QFC) Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) survey of Qatari non-hydrocarbon private sector businesses highlighted a further rise in the volume of new business at the beginning of 2019’s second quarter. 


Meanwhile, overall sentiment regarding future output was the third-strongest since the survey began in April 2017, with more than three-quarters of respondents expecting growth at their business units over the next 12 months. As a consequence, while the level of the headline PMI figure ebbed slightly from March’s reading, sustained growth in such new work orders supported firms’ robust expectations for future total business activity.

The headline PMI for Qatar eased slightly to 48.9 in April, from 50.1 in March. Although the most recent reading continues to register above its average over the final quarter of 2018 (48.6), it is just below the trend observed over the first quarter of 2019 (49.7). The month-on-month dip in the PMI mainly reflects the slower growth rate of new orders and declines in the output as well as employment indicators.