UAE’s GDP to rise to AED 1.8 trln by year-end

The United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) gross domestic product (GDP) is expected to reach AED 1.8 trillion by the end of 2016, the ministry of economy said in its annual report.

The GDP tripled in the past decade, climbing from AED 511 billion in 2006 to AED 1.58 trillion in 2015, it added.

“The UAE has shown resilience despite a major global economic slowdown, decline in the number of emerging economies, and trade and investment instability in some parts of the region,” Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, the UAE minister of economy, said in a statement.

The country’s diversification plans help navigate the UAE through the economic challenges, the minister said, adding that the emirates non-oil sector’s contributions to the GDP in 2015 rose at the rate of 77 percent at current prices and 70 percent at constant prices.

Total government and private domestic investments for 2015 stood at AED 354.4 billion, up 5.2 percent compared to the previous year.

The share of government investments reached AED 145.8 billion, up 8 percent over the previous year. The private sector’s contribution to gross domestic investment increased by 3.3 percent from AED 201.9 billion in 2014.

Mansouri said the total foreign direct investment (FDI) inflows into the UAE amounted to $11 billion at an annual growth rate of 9.3 percent from 2011 to 2015, while the total volume of cumulative foreign investments in 2015 reached $126.6 billion in 2015 at a growth rate of 10.3 percent during the same period.

The UAE’s investments abroad, on the other hand, increased to $9.3 billion in 2015 compared to $9 billion over the previous year, bringing the cumulative balance of these investments to $87.4 billion in 2015. The UAE is the largest Arab investor abroad, the minister said.

The state’s foreign non-oil trade volume in 2015 stood at AED 1.75 trillion, up by 10 percent from 2014.

Mansouri said the small and medium-sized enterprises sector counts among main priorities of the state. The sector currently accounts for more than 60 percent of the national GDP and the aim is to bring the figure up to 70 percent in 2021, he added.