UAE deputy PM says oil to account for 5% of GDP by 2021

Contribution of oil revenues to the gross domestic product (GDP) of the United Arab Emirates will drop to five percent by 2012 from its current 30 percent, said Sheikh Saif bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the deputy prime minister and interior minister.

In a speech to the third round of Dubai’s Government Summit, bin Zayed said on Monday that the current fall in oil prices is only a challenge, but not a crisis.

“The UAE in the 1970s used to depend on oil revenues for 90 percent of its GDP, which would have posed a crisis when ​oil prices tumbled​” he said. “Now, however, we’re able to withstand the storm.”

The UAE worked successfully on diversifying its national income sources, he pointed out.

The Emirates has established four sovereign funds, of which Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) ​ranks second in the Largest Sovereign Wealth Funds.

In addition, Dubai International Airport is the world’s busiest handling 70 million passengers per year, with Dubai being the twelfth most visited cityworldwide with ​10 million tourists annually, Al Nahyan said