Standard & Poor’s research showed that the Kingdom’s non-oil private sector remained resilient in September last year thanks to a relatively strong recovery in production and new orders, but growth was slower than in August.
The seasonally adjusted Standard & Poor’s Purchasing Managers’ Index fell to 56.6 in September from 57.7 in August, still well above 50.0, which indicates growth.
For his part, David Owen, an economist at Standard & Poor’s, said, according to Reuters, that the Kingdom’s non-oil private sector maintained its impressive pace of growth in September, especially in light of increasingly difficult global economic conditions.
He explained that production and new orders grew at a pace that exceeded their current 25-month average growth, indicating that confidence in the quality of goods and services provided means companies are winning at a rapid rate.
He added that inflationary pressures “seem to be contained at present” with spending rising on average in a wide range and non-oil companies striving to maintain competitive pricing.
