New business grows for first time in Egypt in three years

Egyptian non-oil companies saw an increase in sales volumes in June for the first time since August 2021, according to the latest S&P Global Egypt PMI survey.

The uplift followed recent signs of a stabilising of economic conditions, as policy moves supported a relaxation of price pressures and improved demand prospects.

Output levels fell at the softest rate in nearly three years, while the volume of input purchases rose for the first time since December 2021.

Input cost inflation remained soft despite accelerating to a three-month high, leading to another modest rise in selling charges.

The headline seasonally adjusted S&P Global Egypt Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) is a composite gauge designed to give a single-figure snapshot of operating conditions in the non-oil private sector economy.

It is calculated from measures of new orders, output, employment, supplier delivery times and stocks of purchases.

The headline PMI ticked up from 49.6 in May to 49.9 in June, posting only fractionally below the 50.0 mark which separates growth from contraction.

The reading was indicative of broadly stable operating conditions at the end of the second quarter.

Notably, the index was at its highest level in exactly three years.New business intakes at non-oil firms rose for the first time since August 2021 in June, as the proportion of firms seeing demand improve started to outweigh those seeing a reduction.