By Ebi Kesiena
Egypt’s Non-oil Private Sector activity shrank for the 28th straight month in March, as import and currency restrictions and rising inflation continued to hurt business, a survey reveled recently.
According to S&P Global economist, David Owen, S&P Global Egypt Purchasing Managers’ Index, (PMI) edged down to 46.7 in March from 46.9 in February, well below the 50.0 threshold that marks growth in activity.
“At 46.7, the headline PMI signaled a further solid deterioration in the performance of non-oil companies, driven by steep falls in activity and new business volumes,” he said.
The PMI’s sub-index for overall input prices inched up to 62.8 from February’s 62.7, and that for purchase prices climbed to 64.3 from 63.9.
The new orders sub-index, fell to 44.3 in March from 44.7 in February, while that for output strengthened to 44.9 from 44.6.
“Output levels fell at a marked rate across the non-oil private sector during March, in part due to ongoing difficulties with accessing key inputs due to import controls and currency restrictions,” S&P Global said.
Headline inflation soared to a five-and-a-half-year high of 31.9% in February from 25.8% in January, the state statistics organization reported, while core inflation leapt to 40.26%.
The sub-index for future output expectations improved to 54.2 from 52.5 in February, still near an all-time low.
“Despite picking up to a three-month high, the year-ahead outlook for activity was still among the weakest recorded since the series began in early-2012,” S&P wrote.
Egypt remains short of foreign currency despite the Egyptian pound depreciating by half, since March 2022 and its signing of a $3 billion support package with International Monetary Fund in December.
Last weekend, Egypt President, Fattel al-Sisi, went to Saudi Arabia in a trip, seen as an attempt to get Gulf nations’ help with Cairo’s woes.
