PMI reading points to another month of worsening business conditions

Waiting for Godot: There is little evidence an economic recovery is underway, according to the Emirates NBD Egypt’s PMI reading, which registered 43.3 in January. “Egypt’s non-oil private sector began 2017 in the same way that it ended 2016, with economic conditions worsening again. Underpinning the downturn were ongoing reductions in output and new orders,” which fell for the sixteenth straight month. Average prices charged increased at survey-record pace and employment fell for the twentieth straight month as well. Jean-Paul Pigat, Senior Economist at Emirates NBD points to the silver lining in the report, saying it is “encouraging that the new ‘Future Output Index’ of the PMI suggests that firms have become increasingly optimistic on the economic outlook following November’s devaluation of the EGP.”