The UAE’s non-oil economy has seen business activity growing at a continuous pace, with new orders increasing.

The National reports that IHS Markit’s seasonally-adjusted UAE purchasing managers index was recorded at 55.1 in July, retaining its strength despite dropping slightly from 57.7 in June. A reading above 50 shows that the economy is growing.

The growth was mainly led by higher sales and an increase in employment.

Andrew Harker, associate director at HIS and the report’s author, said: “Companies were at least partly reliant on price discounting to secure new orders, suggesting some weakness in underlying demand. They were helped in this regard by a lack of cost inflation in July.”

Output prices dropped for the tenth consecutive month, however the slowdown was described as “modest”.

According to IHS Markit, business activity over the next 12 months is expected to be boosted by improving market conditions, higher rates of new orders and Expo 2020-related activity

The Central Bank of the UAE said the first quarter of 2019 saw the UAE economy expand by an annual 2.2% from a year earlier, as a result of government spending boosting the non-oil sector.

Meanwhile, the non-oil economy grew by 1.6% in the three months to the end of March from the same time a year prior.