Saudi PMI rises to 56.9 points in October

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The seasonally adjusted Riyad Bank Saudi Arabia Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI), formerly S&P Global Saudi Arabia PMI, rose to 56.9 points in October 2024.

This was the highest reading in six months and signaled a further acceleration in non-oil private sector growth. The index came in line with its long-term average.

The rise in the index was driven primarily by a stronger increase in sales volumes in October, with firms citing higher customer demand and an overall improvement in economic conditions.

Survey respondents also cited new customer arrivals, successful marketing strategies and increased infrastructure development as factors that helped drive new business growth, which reached its highest level since March.

As a result, firms expanded their business activity levels, with the rate of increase accelerating from September. Survey data continued to point to a broad-based expansion, with all four key sectors surveyed seeing a sharp rise.

Furthermore, firms continued to express positive expectations for future activity, with optimism rising compared to the previous month.

Business conditions in Saudi Arabia’s non-oil private sector economy improved at their fastest pace in six months in October, according to the latest survey data. This surge was largely due to a sharp increase in sales, which helped drive further expansion in business activity, employment, purchasing activity and inventory.

However, the strong improvement in the sector as a whole was accompanied by an accumulation of cost pressures for both materials and personnel, which, in turn, led to the first increase in average prices of products and services in four months.

The PMI is a weighted average of the following five indices: