Growth in non-oil sector lifts UAE GDP

Abu Dhabi - Government spending over the first nine months of 2017 grew 23% on an annual basis

The UAE's non-oil gross domestic product grew 2.9 per cent in 2017, while oil real GDP growth was up 1.5 per cent, with the country's real GDP hitting 1.5 per cent, according to a Central Bank of the UAE report that forecast GDP growth, amount up to 2.5 per cent in 2018 and 2.8 per cent in 2019.
Government spending over the first nine months of 2017 grew on an annual basis of 23 per cent, with employment hitting 2.6 per cent during the same period, the bank's annual report said. The inflation rate amounted to 1.8 per cent in 2017, as a result of a hike of 18.3 per cent in the prices of tobacco and beverages.
Following the significant decline in oil prices since 2015, global rates relatively recovered in 2017 in the wake of the Opec's output cut deal that pushed prices 27 per cent up tato $70 per barrel. This production cut brought oil GDP down to 1.5 per cent from 3.8 per cent in 2016.
The improvement in global oil prices last year reflected positively on the non-oil sector and helped accelerate the diversification drive adopted by the country's economy, which has proved its resilience in times of market volatility.