Riyadh: Growth of Saudi Arabia's non-oil private sector eased at the start of Q4, with output, new orders and employment rising at weaker rates.
Despite the loss of momentum, the sector remained firmly in expansionary territory overall. Data for prices provided a further cautionary note, however, as purchasing costs increased at the sharpest pace since July 2014, according to the Saudi English daily (Arab News).
Charges rose only marginally, with competitive pressures preventing higher costs from being passed immediately onto clients.
The survey, sponsored by Emirates NBD and produced by Markit, contains original data collected from a monthly survey of business conditions in the Saudi private sector.
Business conditions improve at weakest pace in survey history; rates of growth in output, new orders and employment all ease since September; and cost pressures pick up to 14-month high.
The October reading was the lowest in the survey's history, and highlighted a further loss of growth momentum from the five-month high seen midway through Q3 (58.7). Nonetheless, it still pointed to a solid improvement in business conditions overall.
The slowdown of the sector as a whole in October was partly driven by a weaker expansion in new business. Latest data showed new orders rising at the least marked rate since the series began in 2009, with panelists indicating that slower market conditions had restricted some of the gains from improving demand and marketing initiatives. Growth of new export work also eased, but remained stronger than the long-run average.
As a result, non-oil private sector output in Saudi Arabia rose more slowly during October. The respective index held up better than that for new business, however, and signaled a marked rise that was only slightly weaker than in September. Enhanced marketing was cited as a factor behind the increase in activity.
QNA
