DUBAI (Khaleej Times): The International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Tuesday projected higher growth for the UAE economy for next year than in 2023 and 2024, the highest in three years.
The World Economic Outlook released by IMF predicted 4.2 per cent GDP growth for 2025 as compared to 3.5 per cent for 2024 and 3.4 per cent for last year. In 2022, the UAE economy grew 7.9 per cent, bouncing back after the Covid-19 pandemic.
In the post-pandemic era, the UAE’s economy is being mainly driven by confidence in its policies, attracting talent and foreign direct investment from around the world in key sectors, especially real estate, travel and tourism and retail sectors. In addition, high oil prices are also supporting the growth of the economy.
However, the IMF reduced UAE’s GDP growth outlook for 2024 by half a per cent from 4.0 per cent in October 2023 to 3.5 per cent in the latest forecast.
The IMF projected higher growth for most of the oil exporting nations for next year as global geopolitical tensions from the Russia-Ukraine crisis to the Iran-Israel conflict kept the oil prices higher due to disruption fears.
