Abu Dhabi - Mubasher: The United Arab Emirates Cabinet approved on Tuesday the federal budget with a total of AED 201.1 billion ($55 billion) for years 2018-2021.
Fiscal year 2018 will see a budget of AED 51.4 billion for the next year, with a zero deficit, increasing by 5.6% compared to the previous year, in the biggest budget in the country’s history.
Estimated revenues amounted to AED 51.388 billion, with an estimated expenditure of AED 51.388 billion, meaning 0% deficit.
The budget, approved during an extraordinary cabinet meeting held at the Sharjah International Book Fair, comes in line with the Emirati government’s objective to improve the efficiency of financial planning and its implementation to achieve the UAE Vision 2021, as reported by Emirates News Agency (WAM).
The Cabinet also adopted Federal Decree Law No. 08 of 2017 on Value Added Tax (VAT) to be implemented at the beginning of January 2018.
The budget saw AED 26.3 billion earmarked for social benefits and development programmes, accounting for 43.5% of the total budget.
Meanwhile, AED 10.4 billion were allocated for general education and higher education totaling 17.1%, with AED 4.5 billion allocated to the health sector (7.4%).
Government affairs sector was allocated AED 22.1 billion, 36.5% of the total budget. A total of AED 3.5 billion was assigned to federal projects implemented by federal agencies.
