UAE central bank says real GDP up 8.2pc in q1 2022
The UAE central bank’s quarterly report indicated that total real GDP increased by 8.2 percent annually in the first quarter of 2022, a state news agency said on Wednesday. The central bank expects real GDP to grow by 5.4 percent in 2022 and 4.2 percent in 2023, the statement added, and expects non-oil GDP to increase by 4.3 percent and 3.9 percent in 2022 and 2023, respectively.
UAE launches $820m fund
The United Arab Emirates will pour more than $800 million into space initiatives through a massive new fund, with the first investment going toward the establishment of a remote sensing satellite constellation. That constellation, called “Sirb” (the Arabic word for a flock of birds), will use synthetic aperture radar technology to capture high-resolution images. The country listed border control, oil spill detection and ship detection and tracking among the practical uses for the satellites. The UAE aims to launch the first satellite in three years, with the entire satellite program to last around six years. It did not specify the total amount it plans to invest in the constellation.
UAE outlines circular economy plans
The United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Circular Economy Council has approved 22 proposed policies designed to accelerate a shift from linear business models in manufacturing, food, infrastructure and transport. The council – which hosted government and private sector officials, including Minister of Climate Change and the Environment, Mohammed Almheiri, to announce the news – is to explore various opportunities, including the potential for upcycling textile waste into new products and AI-enabled waste management solutions.
UAE is ready for the future
A UAE newspaper has said that innovation is characteristic of life in the UAE. As is pushing the frontiers of technology to prepare for a future economy. Yesterday, to further that process, Dubai unveiled a detailed metaverse strategy. The metaverse is still a new and emerging digital space, where people have virtual avatars to participate in a digital world with its own digital economy. “It is a growing area, much in demand, and has the potential to create more than 40,000 jobs and add $4 billion to the emirate’s economy in the next five years,” said The National in an editorial on Wednesday. In launching it, H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai, spoke of the “next revolution in the technological and economic field” that would “affect all aspects of life over the next two decades”. It is not just rapid growth in the virtual world that the UAE has ambitions for.
Dubai unveils metaverse strategy
Leaders of Dubai want the most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) to become one of the world’s top 10 metaverse economies. The Dubai Metaverse Strategy, launched on Monday, aims to attract more than 1,000 blockchain and metaverse companies to the city as well as support more than 40,000 virtual jobs by 2030, according to an announcement published on the UAE official news agency WAM. “This would further boost Dubai’s economy and support the UAE government’s vision of increasing the number of blockchain companies by five times the present number,” the announcement said. His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, crown prince of Dubai and chairman of the Dubai Executive Council, unveiled the metaverse strategy.
Oil price windfall tests Gulf’s fiscal discipline
Apetrodollar windfall is helping some Gulf Arab states pay down debt and providing cash for others to diversify their oil-reliant economies, but it is also testing commitments to fiscal discipline as governments try to shield citizens from inflation. Gulf oil producers have promised more prudence this time as crude prices have spiked higher, seeking to learn the lessons of previous periods of plenty that rapidly turned into eras of belt-tightening and deep deficits. The six Gulf Arab states – Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman – are on track for budget surpluses, some for the first time in a decade, with the help of buoyant oil prices and years of fiscal reforms. Now, say analysts, they must hold this conservative line.
Value of oil and gas projects in Kuwait hits $15bln
According to a report by the MEED magazine, the value of oil and gas projects executed by Kuwait in 15 years, specifically during the period between 2005 and 2021, amounted to about $ 14.9 billion, reports Al-Anba daily. The year 2016 witnessed the largest awarding of oil and gas contracts ever, as Kuwait awarded contracts worth $ 4.2 billion. This jump in awarding contracts came in conjunction with the efforts made by the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC) and its subsidiaries to increase the country’s production capacity of oil and gas. The year 2015 had seen awarding of contracts worth $1.2 billion. During the past two years, Kuwait awarded contracts for oil and gas projects worth $585 million.
Bahrain heads for economic rebound following upstream shakeup
Bahrain’s economic growth is picking up, driven by strong performance in the non-oil segment of the economy, the IMF says in its recently completed Article IV assessment of the kingdom. After the economy contracted by 4.9 percent in 2020 amid the Covid-19 pandemic, “the recovery was supported by a strong performance in non-hydrocarbon manufacturing as well as by the retail trade and hospitality sectors,” says the IMF. But beyond the positive near-term picture, the IMF warns that economic challenges remain. “Over the medium-term, growth is set to stabilize at 3 percent. However, declining oil prices will put pressure on the medium-term fiscal deficit and public debt is projected at 127 percent of GDP by 2027.”