(Reuters) – The pace of growth in Saudi Arabia’s non-oil sector continued to accelerate in October, lifted by the fastest growth in new orders since March, a survey showed on Tuesday.
The seasonally adjusted Riyad Bank Saudi Arabia Purchasing Managers’ Index rose to 56.9 in October, the strongest reading in six months, and up slightly from 56.3 in September. The headline PMI remained well above the 50.0 mark denoting growth.
The new orders subindex surged to 62.5 in October from 59.3 the previous month, marking the highest reading since March and attributed in part to higher client demand, new marketing strategies and greater infrastructure development.
“The significant increase in new orders this month…underscores the success of Vision 2030’s strategic focus on innovation and infrastructure development,” said Naif Al-Ghaith, Riyad Bank’s chief economist.
The output subindex rose to 60.2 in October from 59.7 the previous month.
Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 strategy depends on hundreds of billions of dollars in infrastructure investment and domestic reforms to develop new sectors, diversify revenue streams, expand the private sector and create jobs.
Finance Minister Mohammed Al Jadaan recently said human resources and implementation had been a challenge for some of the targets, but non-oil GDP now represented about 52% of the economy.
The rate of job creation in October remained modest overall.
Businesses’ confidence about the 12-month outlook improved from September.
(Reporting by Rachna Uppal in Abu Dhabi; Editing by Hugh Lawson)
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