UAE - Mubasher: The seasonally adjusted S&P Global UAE Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) edged down to 54.2 in December 2025 from 54.8 last November, according to the latest S&P Global PMI data.
Non-oil businesses continued to report a moderate growth in activity at the end of 2025.
The data reflected a robust expansion in activity levels across the non-oil private sector in December, as firms highlighted the receipt of new customer orders, strengthening market conditions and supportive domestic policies.
With margins tightening, companies adopted a more cautious stance on employment and continued to reduce their inventories of inputs to manage costs effectively.
The firms reported mounting cost pressures in December, as survey data pointed to the fastest rise in overall input prices for 15 months.
They highlighted an above-average rise in salary expenses, as well as greater costs for transport and maintenance.
As for this year’s outlook, business expectations remained generally positive; however, the degree of confidence lost ground and was among the lowest seen in the past three years.
David Owen, Senior Economist at S&P Global Market Intelligence, said: "The PMI averaged 54.0 over the year, which was close to its long-run average, but still signalled the weakest annual performance since 2021.”
“Firms took encouragement from signs of increased customer spending, rising tourism, greater technology adoption and supportive government policies,” Owen added.
