Page 454 - Ministry of Economy - December 2017

12/25/2017 Challenges may come, but UAE's ready for it - Khaleej Times

A joint report by the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales and Oxford Economics says that the INDIA (/INTERNATIONAL/INDIA)
UAE will record an accelerated growth in 2018 to 3.6 per cent from 1.7 per cent in 2017. The momentum will further Virat Kohli, Anushka to get
married next week in Italy?
gain pace in 2019 to post 3.6 per cent growth. The report echoes the GDP growth projected by the IMF, which said (/virat-kohli-anushka-to-get-
recently the UAE economy; overall GCC growth, meanwhile, is poised to rebound to 2.2 per cent. married-next-week-in-italy)
6 December 2017
Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, UAE Minister of Economy, said that the outlook for the economy is brightening despite DUBAI (/NATION/DUBAI)
regional and global macroeconomic challenges. New fees for vehicle
registration, licensing in UAE
(/nation/dubai/new-fees-for-
"With two years into Expo 2020 Dubai, the economic growth momentum is expected to pick up on the back of a vehicle-registration-testing-in-
vibrant non-oil sector as the country remains on track to establish a diverse knowledge- and innovation-driven uae-)
6 December 2017
economy," Al Mansouri said.
ABU DHABI (/NATION/ABU-DHABI)
Hafez Ghanem, World Bank vice-president for the Middle East North Africa, said Dubai is a good example of how an 8,000 govt jobs filled by expats
oil exporter should diversify. He noted that low oil prices are providing an impetus for Gulf economies to diversify should be Emiratised, FNC hears
(/nation/abu-dhabi/8000-govt-
away from the oil industry. jobs-filled-by-expats-should-be-
emiratised-fnc-hears-)
6 December 2017
The World Bank official, however stressed the need for the private sector to drive most of the economic growth, and
private-public-partnership models will be very important in securing that. He believes that the privatisation drive will DUBAI (/NATION/DUBAI)
help prop up the capital markets. Complete guide: How to sponsor

The Washington-based IMF has projected a 1.3 per cent growth in UAE's real GDP in 2017, which it expects to surge
to 3.4 per cent in 2018. While consumer price inflation in the UAE will edge up slightly from 2.1 per cent in 2017 to
67%
2.9 per cent in 2018, the UAE will record current account balance at 2.1 per cent this year and next, the IMF said.

Notification According to the UAE Vision 2021 plan, the creation and maintaining of a sustainable and diversified economy is a
key component of future planning, and progress has continued to be made towards that objective.

The intention is that, by 2021, the UAE will have an economy that is flexible in adopting new economic models and
that is able to capitalise on global economic partnerships to guarantee long-term prosperity for current and future
generations of Emiratis.

Developing a 'competitive knowledge economy' is one of the pillars of the UAE National Agenda in line with Vision
2021. According to an official report by the Ministry of Economy, the government has continued in 2017 to focus on
the UAE becoming the economic, tourist and commercial capital for more than two billion people. To achieve this, the
government has set 12 key performance indicators: non-oil real GDP growth; gross national income per capita; net
inflow of foreign direct investment as a percentage of GDP; global competitiveness index; share of UAE nationals in
the workforce; ease of doing business index; Emiratisation rate in the private sector; the contribution by small and
medium enterprises to non-oil GDP; global entrepreneurship and development index; global innovation index, share
of 'knowledge workers' in the labour force; and research and development expenditure as a percentage of GDP.

Effective October 1, 2017, the UAE marked the beginning of a new era in its history, as it started implementing excise
tax, exactly three months ahead of the launch of value added tax, another landmark region-wide tax initiative. Initial
estimates suggest that the tax will generate up to around Dh7 billion in annual revenues for the federal budget.

In the key oil and gas sector of the economy, the most significant development of the year was the announcement
that the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (Adnoc), was to list a minority stake in its subsidiary, Adnoc Distribution, on
the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange.

Announcing the step at the 2017 Abu Dhabi International Petroleum Exhibition and Conference in early November, Dr
Sultan bin Ahmad Sultan Al Jaber, UAE Minister of State and CEO of Adnoc Group, said that: "the planned IPO, to be
listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange, will offer both UAE and international investors an unprecedented
opportunity to invest alongside Adnoc in one of the region's leading retail brands."

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