A leading financial services firm released a negative assessment of the Egyptian economy on Tuesday following President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's confirmation that he will seek a third term in office.
S&P Global Market Intelligence reported that Egypt’s Purchasing Managers' Index (PMI) was 48.7 in September — a four-month low and 0.5 point drop from the 49.2 score in August, according to a Tuesday report.
The PMI is a measure of economic trends in the manufacturing and service sectors. A score above 50 indicates economic expansion, while a score below 50 shows contraction.
S&P Global economist David Owen said that Egyptian non-oil companies experienced a “record pileup of incomplete orders” in September due to high inflation and a “lack of raw material supply.” These factors, along with the weak exchange rate between the Egyptian pound and the US dollar, “added to a generally subdued level of confidence toward future activity as well as another sharp reduction in purchasing levels,” he said in the report.
