The United Arab Emirates’ economy expanded 7.6 percent in 2022, said the country’s Economy Minister Abdulla bin Touq al-Marri on March 2. This is about double the rise in the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) recorded in 2021, as the Gulf nation bounced back sharply from the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2022, higher energy prices supported economic growth across the Gulf region’s oil exporters in 2022. This year, a slowdown is forecast with a more uncertain oil price outlook and a challenging global macroeconomic environment. The UAE aims to double the size of its economy by 2031 and diversify away from hydrocarbons. “In order to do that, we need 7 percent GDP growth every year,” the UAE minister said in an interview on the sidelines of the Investopia conference in Abu Dhabi.
The UAE’s foreign trade hit 2.2 trillion dirhams ($599 billion) in 2022, up 17 percent year on year, and it has signed bilateral trade agreements with global partners, including India to Israel and Indonesia. Talks with Turkey, and others, are underway. The UAE will also host the UN’s flagship COP28 climate conference at the end of the year.
Abdulla bin Touq al-Marri expects the re-opening of the Chinese economy to play a “big role” in reducing inflation around the globe, especially on goods and products coming from China, one of the UAE’s biggest trade partners.
