The Arab Monetary Fund (AMF) expects UAE gross domestic product (GDP) to grow by two per cent this year against a contraction of one per cent over 2009.
The periodical bulletin of the Arab Capital Markets performance and economic indicators for the first half of the year said that developments in the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange and Dubai Financial Market indicated that the consolidated budget, based on the current oil prices, would register a total surplus of dhs14 billion as compared to last year, or an equivalent of six per cent of the GDP.
The AMF noted that this surplus surpassed the last year’s figure of dhs4 billion but was less than that of 2008.
On the monetary and banking sector, the AMF said domestic liquidity in the first four months of the year grew by 1.4 per cent to dhs750.7 while combined assets of UAE banks rose less than one per cent to dhs1.5 trillion.
The UAE’s non-oil foreign trade rose 4.7 per cent in the first quarter while imports remained stable year on year.
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