Sharp downturn in business sentiment shows economic impact of covid-19 in MENA

Sharp downturn in business sentiment shows economic impact of covid-19 in MENA: IHS Markit’s purchasing managers’ index (PMI) for March saw a steep drop in Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Lebanon, Turkey and Qatar, Bloomberg reports, indicating that the costs of covid-19 in the region have already been heavy. Cases are still increasing, and doubled in the last week. The PMI gauge in Egypt fell to 44.2 in March from 47.1 in February, we reported earlier this week.