ABU DHABI 3 April 2019: The Gross Domestic Product (GDP), at current prices, for the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, increased by 12.9 per cent in the fourth quarter (Q4) of 2018 compared with the same period in 2017, according to estimates released by Abu Dhabi Statistics Centre (Scad).
In 2018, Scad estimated the GDP, at current prices, grew by 14.5 per cent to Dh931.2 billion from Dh813.6 bn in 2017 while GDP, at constant 2007 prices, rose 2 per cent to Dh797.3bn from Dh782bn in 2017.
This increase in economic activity could mainly be attributed to the value added by oil activities, which rose by 33 percent . At the same time, the value added by non-oil activities increased by 1.6 per cent in Q4, 2018 following an annual growth rate of 2.1 percent in Q3, 2018. The contribution of non-oil activities to total GDP at current prices decreased from 64.1 percent in the Q4, 2017 to 57.7 percent in the Q4, 2018, Scad noted.
Compared with the previous quarter, the GDP at current prices increased by 2.3 per cent in Q4, 2018. The value added by oil activities, which rose by 2.5 per cent, contributed most to this increase. Non-oil activities recorded an increase of 2.1 percent in Q4, 2018 compared with the Q3, 2018.
Oil Resurgent
GDP measured at constant prices increased by 3.7 per cent in the Q4, 2018, compared with Q4, 2017. The value added at constant prices of non-oil activities decreased by 1.1 per cent while oil activities increased by 8.9 per cent. As a result, the contribution of non-oil activities to total GDP at constant prices decreased from 52.4 percent in Q4, 2017 to 50.0 percent in the same period of 2018.
Compared with the previous quarter, the GDP at constant prices increased by 2.2 per cent in Q4, 2018. The value added by oil activities increased by 3.2 percent, while non-oil activities recorded an increase of 1.2 per cent in Q4, 2018 compared with Q3, 2018.
The value added by the ‘Non-financial’ sector increased by 14.3 percent from Dh178,628 million in Q4, 2017 to Dh204,213 million in Q4, 2018. Its contribution to total GDP was 83.0 percent in Q4, 2017 and 84.1 percent in Q4, 2018.
The value added by the ‘Financial companies’ sector increased by 9.0 percent from Dh18,912 million in Q4, 2017 to Dh20,620 million in Q4, 2018. Its contribution to total GDP decreased from 8.8 percent in Q4, 2017 to 8.5 percent in Q4, 2018.
The value added by the ‘General government’ sector increased by 1.8 percent from Dh16,219 million in Q4, 2017 to Dh16,519 million in Q4, 2018. Its contribution to total GDP decreased from 7.5 percent to 6.8 percent over the same period.
The value added by the ‘Household’ sector increased by 8.0 percent from Dh1,437 million in Q4, 2017 to Dh1,552 million in Q4, 2018. Its contribution to total GDP decreased from 0.7 percent to 0.6 percent over the same period.
Quarterly GDP at current prices measures the value of products and services produced by the economy during a given quarter after deducting the intermediate goods and services consumed as inputs in the production processes. GDP at current prices consists of two components, a price and a volume (or quantity).
