Saudi Arabia’s hiring spree leads to best quarter in 12 years

Dubai: Between January to end March, Saudi Arabia’s non-oil private sector created jobs at the fastest pace in 12 years, as businesses looked to expand on higher growth orders.

“Hiring activity was supported by an upturn in demand, which also encouraged an expansion in output and stockpiling of inputs,” says the latest monthly PMI report from Riyad Bank.

But such was the competition that businesses were resorting to heavy discounts, ‘with a decrease recorded for the first time in six months’.

“At the same time, the rate of input cost inflation slid to its weakest in just over four years,” the report added.