Qatar's PMI Recorded Slight Decline Last February

Doha, March 14 (QNA) - Qatar Financial Center's (PMI) recorded a slight decline in February, reaching 48.5 points against 50.5 points in January. The latest PMI survey of Qatari non-hydrocarbon private sector businesses by Qatar Financial Centre highlighted a further increase in employment in February, building on January's strong round of recruitment. This reflected an elevated degree of confidence regarding the 12-month outlook for growth of total business activity, with 71 percent of surveyed companies expecting output at their units to rise by February 2020. Managing Director, Business Development at QFC Authority HE Sheikha Al Anoud bint Hamad Al-Thani said that business expectations remained strongly positive in February and the continued growth of the labor force indicates that companies are willing to increase the volume of work in the coming months, which is reflected in the corporate expectations index, which recorded its second highest level so far. Around 71 percent of firms are forecasting growth, linked to expected new projects, new clients, new bids being approved and World Cup-related work. The PMI is calculated from five indices for output, new orders, employment, suppliers' delivery times and stocks of purchases. The index dipped to 48.5 in February from January's six-month high of 50.5. This mainly reflected a slower rate of employment growth following January's record gain (accounting for 0.9 points of the 2-point drop) and a slight dip in stocks of purchases (-0.4 points) again following a record rise in January. The indicator for short-term output was broadly stable, while new orders (-0.5 points) and suppliers delivery times (-0.2 points) had negative contributions to the headline figure (the latter index is inverted for the PMI calculation). The PMI survey is compiled for the Qatar Financial Centre by IHS Markit and has been conducted since April 2017. The report provides an early indication of operating conditions in Qatar. The headline figure derived from the survey is the Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI), readings of which above 50.0 signals an improvement in business conditions on the previous month, while readings below 50.0 show a tightening. Higher employment remained a theme in the latest survey. Having added staff in January at the fastest rate since the survey began in April 2017, a further increase was noted in February, albeit at a slower pace. (QNA)