Dubai PMI at 14 month high in October

The S&P Global PMI survey for Dubai rose to 57.4 in October, up from 56.1 in September and well above the neutral 50.0 mark which delineates expansion and contraction. This marked the highest headline reading for the survey since August 2022 and indicates a strong start to the final quarter of the year. Dubai recorded real GDP growth of 2.8% y/y in Q1 and 3.6% in Q2 and we anticipate that it will have accelerated further through the second half of the year. As in the wider UAE PMI survey released last week (which was at a more-than-four-year high), it was a robust expansion in new orders that drove the pick-up in the headline reading. Sales growth was at the strongest level since June 2019 with respondents to the survey noting new clients and greater demand.