Egypt’s non-oil economic headwinds are showing further promise of dissipating as companies said their input costs were softening, and stabilisation of the Egyptian pound cooled import markets. The country’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) report for May said the country saw the slowest downturn in business conditions in 15 months. Rising input prices and weak demand meant that purchasing activity at non-oil businesses continued to decline, leading to a further contraction in firms’ input inventories. Firms noted that low sales and difficulties paying staff due to a lack of liquidity were behind the reduction, which accelerated from April but was only marginal overall. David Owen, Senior Economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said: “The Egypt PMI remained in negative territory in May, but showed further promise that current economic headwinds were beginning to dissipate.

Source: The North Africa Journal June 05, 2023 06:29 UTC