The two largest Arab economies are powering ahead as new business and demand helped insulate them from a sharp acceleration in global energy and commodity prices after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Concern is building worldwide that the crisis in eastern Europe will result in stagflation, or rapidly rising prices and weak economic growth. But for now, non-oil output gains were intact in Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, according to March surveys of purchasing managers by S&P Global that offered a first glimpse at the conflict’s spillover effects in the region.
A Purchasing Managers’ Index compiled for Saudi Arabia rose to 56.8 from 56.2 in February, with output growing at the fastest in over four years. A similar gauge for the neighboring UAE remained at 54.8, well above the 50 mark that separates expansion from contraction, even as input cost inflation reached a 40-month record.
In the UAE, “a strong rise in demand across the non-oil economy in March masked the concerning threat posed by global commodity prices,” said David Owen, economist at S&P Global.
No comments:
Post a Comment