Business in Egypt has expanded, marked by the first rise in staffing levels in nearly two-and-a-half years in September, with output and new orders rising sharply, an HSBC report showed on Tuesday.
September data signalled a further improvement in the health of Egypt’s non-oil private sector. Higher business requirements in turn encouraged companies to take on additional workers.
Meanwhile, inflationary pressures eased, with both input and output prices rising at weaker rates, the report explained.
Markit's Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) for Egypt's service industry rose from 51.6 in August to a ten-month high of 52.4 in September.
“Growth in new orders and employment shows us market sentiment is improving. Many challenges still lie ahead, but overall the numbers are encouraging," said Razan Nasser, Senior Economist at HSBC.
"We continue to expect growth to pick up pace through 2015,” Nasser added.
New export orders also rose further in September, with panellists mentioning Europe and Libya as sources of export growth. The pace of expansion remained solid and was among the strongest in the series history.
Employment rose for the first time since April 2012, but the rate of job creation was only modest overall.
