ABU DHABI 18 April 2019: The International Monetary Fund (IMF), has forecast the UAE’s nominal Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to grow 4.7 percent to Dh1.673 trillion in 2019, compared to Dh1.589 trillion a year ago.
The GDP growth is reflective of the economic diversification efforts made by the country, according to the Washington-based fund.
Driven by improvement across various economic platforms, including domestic investment and private sector-provided credit as well as the ongoing momentum in trade relations with major trade partners, and the anticipated high tourist influxes associated with the approaching Expo 2020 Dubai, the UAE economy has survived the slowdown witnessed in 2015-2016, said Wam.
The growth is driven as well by the improvement in average oil prices from $71.9 in 2018 to $72.3 in 2019, according the IMF statistics which expected a rise in the country’s crude output to 3.1 million b/d from 3.00 million b/d in 2018.
The IMF’s positive forecasts are based as well on the three-year stimulus packages initiated by the Federal Government starting this year, with inflation rates kept as low as 1.9 percent in 2019 despite the introduction of VAT last year, in addition to the 8 percent increase in the current account surplus in 2019 against 6.9 percent in 2018.
