• Home
• /
• Economy
• /
• Business

Strong response to Covid-19 softens economic impact of global crisis on Dubai

Dubai - The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projects a 4.9 per cent decline in the global economy in 2020.

Dubai experienced a comparatively lesser impact of the current worldwide crisis, as compared to some of the world's major economies.
However, the real gross domestic product (at constant prices) of Dubai showed a 3.5 per cent decline in the first quarter of 2020. The information regarding the same was revealed by the Dubai Statistics Center (DSC).
The emirate's GDP registered a dynamic growth rate of 2.2 per cent in 2019.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) projects a 4.9 per cent decline in the global economy in 2020, in contrast to a growth of 2.9 per cent in 2019. Advanced and developing economies are expected to decline by 8 per cent and 3 per cent in 2020 respectively while Middle East and Central Asia are expected to contract by 4.7 per cent in 2020 compared to 1 per cent in 2019.
Key sectors of the Dubai economy continued to maintain their dynamism in the first quarter. Real estate, finance, manufacturing and the government sector retained their growth momentum in first quarter of 2020.
Arif Al Muhairi, Executive Director of DSC, stated, "Dubai's economy witnessed healthy levels of growth in 2019. It was expected that in the first quarter of 2020, the economy will experience a decline due to the global impact of the Covid-19 pandemic."
"The worldwide restrictions on movement for individuals through air, sea, and land entry points, as well as the unprecedented intensification of precautionary measures, which limited the flow of freight across borders, had significant repercussions on international trade and the global economy.
"Being a central player in international trade and a vital global passenger transit hub, Dubai's economy was affected by these exceptional circumstances," he added.
However, thanks to the advanced infrastructure and capabilities of Dubai's economy and the flexibility of its strategic decision-making system, it has successfully managed the global crisis and reduced its impact when contrasted with other economies, he said.
reporters@khaleejtimes.com