Saudi non-oil PMI sees near-record fall
JEDDAH, June 8, 2016
Saudi Arabia’s economic activity showed a slowing trend during April, a report said, highlighting that the non-oil PMI fell back to near record lows.
Cement sales and crude steel production came out negative in both year-on-year and monthly terms, added the latest Saudi Chartbook released by Jadwa Investment.
In April, the net monthly change to government accounts posted its first increase in four months, rising marginally by SR1.4 billion ($373 million).
Money supply continued to post negative year-on- year growth in May. This was likely due to a negative contribution from demand deposits.
Bank claims on the public sector rose significantly in April, mainly owing to a large subscription in newly issued sovereign bonds during the month. Year-on-year growth in bank credit to the private sector remained at healthy levels.
Total deposits fell by SR11 billion, month-on-month, in April. A net monthly decline in government deposits was the main reason behind this fall.
Inflation slowed down slightly to 4.2 per cent in April. This was mainly due to a slowdown in the housing component, while prices of foodstuffs accelerated.
February data showed that non-oil exports rose marginally, month-on-month. Imports continued to decline, reaching their lowest level in five years.
Brent and WTI prices rose significantly during the month as crude oil outages from Canada and Nigeria resulted in around 1.5 mbpd being temporarily unavailable to global oil markets.
Latest data shows Saudi crude production in April was unchanged month-on-month at 10.2 mbpd.
Speculative activity linked to the appointment of a new Governor at the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) drove up the one year US Dollar/Riyal forward rate in May.
TASI fell month-on-month in May as slower investor activity and profit taking occurred in the run up to the Islamic holy month of Ramadan.
Lower trading volumes and generally quieter investor activity in the month of May saw price to earnings (PE) edge down slightly.
The overall weaker performance of the TASI during the month was also reflected in the individual sectoral performance. – TradeArabia News Service