UAE - Mubasher: Dubai's real gross domestic product (GDP), at constant prices, retreated by 3.5% during the first quarter (Q1) of 2020 due to the economic repercussions of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, according to Dubai media office.
In 2019, Dubai's GDP achieved a 2.2% growth rate to record AED 407.42 billion, attributed to the performance of the trading activity, as shown by the latest statistics of the Dubai Statistics Centre's (DSC).
Despite the global recession, Dubai has managed to reduce the decline rate to its lowest level to make the impact of the COVID-19 crisis in Q1-20 less severe as compared to the world's major economies, DSC referred.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects that the global economy will fall by 4.9% in 2020, versus a 2.9% growth rate in 2019.
The IMF noted that the advanced and developing economies are forecast to drop by 8% and 3% in 2020, respectively, while the Middle East and Central Asia's economy would retreat by 4.7%.
However, the emirate's real estate, finance, manufacturing, and the government sectors have maintained their resilience in the first three months of 2020.
The executive director of DSC, Arif Al Muhairi, said: "The worldwide restrictions on movement for individuals through air, sea, and land entry points, as well as the unprecedented intensification of precautionary measures, which limited the flow of freight across borders, had significant repercussions on international trade and the global economy."
Al Muhairi further remarked: "Being a central player in international trade and a vital global passenger transit hub, Dubai’s economy was affected by these exceptional circumstances."
