Businesses back to growth in top three Arab economies after stumble

The recovery has been fragile in much of the Middle East and faces a further test in the UAE because of a sharp pick-up in new coronavirus cases

The non-oil private sectors in the Arab world’s three largest economies returned to growth in September, with Egypt seeing its first expansion in 14 months.
 
Business conditions improved despite continuing job losses as companies adjusted to the economic challenges of the global pandemic while governments eased restrictions to stop the coronavirus.
A measure of non-oil private sector activity in Saudi Arabia, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates rose last month above the threshold of 50 that separates growth from contraction, according to Purchasing Managers’ Index surveys compiled by IHS Markit.
 
“The latest Egypt PMI data offered more optimism