After slowing slightly over the summer, business conditions improved in September with the S&P Global UAE Purchasing Managers’ Index rising to 56.7 from 55.0 in August as businesses reported strong growth in activity and new work. Export orders also rose sharply in September after being relatively soft in H1 2023. Perhaps the most interesting part of the survey was the level of optimism reported by businesses at the end of the third quarter, which rose to the highest levels since March 2020.