DUBAI, (Reuters) – The United Arab Emirates’ non-oil private sector saw its 12th consecutive month in growth in November. This was slightly more than the previous month when it experienced its highest rate of expansion in over two years.

Dubai hosted the Expo world fair boosting IHS Markit’s seasonally adjusted UAE Purchasing Management’s Index (PMI), to 55.7 in October and 55.9 in November.

This is quite a change from last year when, due to the effects of pandemics on tourism and aviation, the UAE’s PMI only recorded four months of growth.

IHS reported in its PMI report that “the upturn was supported in marked expansions of output and new business volume midway through fourth quarter.”

Both measures saw an increase in demand after the Expo 2020 opened. This was evident by the indices reaching their highest levels since mid-2018. However, export sales increased more slowly than total new business.

From 61.1 in October, the output sub-index climbed to 61.6 in November from 61.1 in Oct. The pace of growth was also accelerated by new orders.

The employment sub-index was largely flat, and the sentiment for future production dipped.

While confidence in business was higher than it had been during much of the pandemic’s duration, November’s historical average for this month showed that businesses were still cautiously optimistic. Firms indicated that they felt less confident due to high levels of competition, which could have affected their sales estimates. According to David Owen (economist at IHS Markit), output prices were later lowered for the fourth consecutive month. However, there was no change in staff numbers despite increasing capacity pressures.”

The stagnation in hiring activity suggests that companies are delaying decisions about staffing until they fully understand the extent of economic recovery after the Expo. There is a possibility that demand will rise and there may be backlogs, which could lead to an increase in employment.