Two Biggest Arab Economies Get in Sync With Best Pickup in Years - Bloomberg

Two Biggest Arab Economies Get in Sync With Best Pickup in Years - Bloomberg:

Business conditions in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates improved the most in years, signaling that recoveries may be taking hold in the Arab world’s two biggest economies.

In May, Saudi Arabia’s Emirates NBD Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to its highest since December 2017. A similar gauge for the U.A.E. posted its best reading since October 2014. Both moved further above the threshold of 50 that separates contraction from growth, reaching 59.4 in the U.A.E. and 57.3 in Saudi Arabia. 

In the U.A.E., the improvement was “partly due to external demand, particularly from Saudi Arabia and Oman,” Khatija Haque, head of Middle East and North Africa research at Emirates NBD, said in a report on Monday. Output and new export orders in OPEC’s third-biggest producer expanded the fastest on record.