Middle East countries show signs of economic recovery: Report

Published 09 Dec,2020 via Muscat Daily - The leading economic performance indicators in the Middle East region have started showing signs of recovery from the recession triggered by the dual shock of the COVID-19 pandemic and low oil prices, according to a latest report released by PwC.

Improvements in the purchasing managers indices (PMI) across the region, which are among the best leading indicators for trends in non-oil GDP, showed that the economic activity has picked up in almost all the countries except Lebanon, PwC said in its Middle East Economy Watch report.

‘The second quarter of 2020 witnessed historically low oil prices and the most intense OPEC+ production cuts, exacerbated by the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in the Middle East. Economic activity, however, picked up in the third quarter with leading economic performance indicators showing signs of recovery. The PMI, which were in the contraction zone for the entire region in the second quarter, are showing expansion for most months since July,’ the report said.