UAE GDP to increase to $419 billion by year-end

National economy will break a record growth of 4.8 per cent this year, said Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri. — Wam

Abu Dhabi: The UAE national economy has made great strides over the last 43 years with its GDP increasing 236 folds from $1.77 billion 1971 to reach $419 billion by the end of this year, Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, Minister of Economy, told a conference in the capital.

The minister said this on the occasion of announcing the 43^rd National Day celebration programmes kicking off from today. The conference organised by the National Media Council was attended by over 50 journalists from around the world.

All the international media personnel will stay in the UAE till December 3 and taken around different emirates to see the tremendous achievements made since 1971.

In his speech, Al Mansouri said this growth came thanks to successful economic policies pursued by the federal government and economic diversification and sustainable and meaningful development base in various sectors — particularly diversification from mere oil and gas.

“The non-oil sectors to date recorded 69 per cent of the gross domestic product of the state, keeping only one-third of the oil sector with the continuation of the government’s efforts in the direction of reducing dependence on the oil sector to continue to implement the policy of diversifying sources of income,” Al Mansouri told the conference.

Al Mansouri further predicted that this year, the national economy will break a record growth of 4.8 per cent with continued growth rate of between four to five per cent over the next seven years as per the International Monetary Fund estimates.

He also pointed out that the state budget surplus of nine per cent of GDP has doubled the level achieved in 2012.

The minister further the inflation rate does not exceed a rate of two to three per cent by the end of 2014 due to the resilience of the national economy and the government’s actions and measures to control prices and rein in inflation.

Al Mansouri said that due to the expected economic recovery the expected increase in re-export activities will increase the value of imports by a large margin this year that is estimated at $241 billion compared to about $217 billion dollars last year.

The minister added that the UAE government is striving to overcome all the obstacles that limit the flow of foreign direct investment (FDI).

Saying the cumulative total during the period from 2006 to 2013 was about Dh222.8 billion (equivalent $60 billion), he pointed out the FDI flows to the country is steadily moving towards attracting more in the coming years.

nissar@khaleejtimes.com