Egypt’s non-oil private sector dips for 7th month in September: PMI
Updated 10/5/2025 9:48:00 AM
Arab Finance: Egypt’s non-oil private sector saw business conditions softening for the seventh straight month in September, as demand waned and firms pulled back on hiring, according to the latest S&P Global Egypt Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI).
The headline PMI slipped to 48.8 in September, the lowest in three months, from 49.2 in August, signaling a modest yet continued downturn.
The decline was largely driven by a sharper fall in new sales and output, with businesses citing subdued economic activity, rising prices, and mounting wage pressures.
As new orders dropped at the fastest pace since April, companies scaled back production and cut purchasing volumes for the seventh consecutive month. Wholesale and retail firms bore the brunt of the slowdown, posting the sharpest declines in activity.
Meanwhile, employment growth stalled, ending a two-month run of job creation.
Most firms kept workforce numbers unchanged, pointing to weaker workloads and waning optimism, with business confidence slipping close to record lows.
Prices charged by non-oil businesses rose for the fifth month in a row, though at a softer pace, as firms cautiously passed higher costs on to customers. Some businesses even increased their inventories, marking the first rise in stocks since May.
David Owen, Senior Economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said: “The latest survey data pointed to a further decline in operating conditions across Egypt's non-oil economy; however, the downturn remained less steep than the survey trend and modest overall."
"Although companies are struggling to gain new work amid challenging market conditions as a whole, they can take some comfort from a softening of input cost pressures, driven by the pound's strengthening against the US dollar over recent months," he added.
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