Business conditions in the United Arab Emirates worsened for the first time in over a decade as the virus outbreak in China risks further disruption to the Gulf nation’s trade and tourism.
Hurt by employment losses and a drop in new orders, operating conditions in the second-biggest Arab economy deteriorated in January, according to IHS Markit. Its U.A.E. Purchasing Managers’ Index, a snapshot of the country’s non-oil private sector, dropped to 49.3, crossing the threshold of 50 that separates contraction from growth.
