UAE GDP grew 7.6% in 2022, finance minister says By Reuters

By Rachna Uppal

ABU DHABI (Reuters) – The United Arab Emirates’ economy expanded 7.6% last year, a senior official said on Thursday, almost double the increase in gross domestic product (GDP) recorded in 2021 when the state of the Gulf made a sharp recovery from Covid-19. pandemic.

While higher energy prices supported economic growth in the Gulf region’s oil exporters last year, a slowdown is forecast this year 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 beyond hydrocarbons.

“To do that, we need GDP growth of 7% every year,” UAE Economy Minister Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines of the Investopia conference in Abu Dhabi.

“This will come with all the strategies that we have put in place: the impact of the trade agreements, the opening to trade… the aspects of the investments that have been seen recently, in the energy transition, for example, in green hydrogen “, said. saying.

The UAE’s foreign trade reached 2.2 trillion dirhams ($599 billion) in 2022, up 17% from the previous year, and it has signed bilateral trade agreements with global partners spanning India, Israel and Indonesia. Talks with Turkey and others are underway.

The United Arab Emirates will also host the UN’s main COP28 climate conference later in the year.

“The UAE strategy is an agile strategy… we are going to see challenges in the economy faster and faster,” Al Marri said.

“And we need to find solutions not in the government but with the private sector, they have a lot of solutions for these kinds of challenges.”

He added that the reopening of the Chinese economy could play a “great role” in reducing inflation around the world, especially in goods and products coming from China, one of the biggest trading partners of the United Arab Emirates.

(Reporting by Rachna Uppal; Editing by Christian Schmollinger, Kirsten Donovan)