Abu Dhabi-Mubasher: The UAE economy is still mastering the effects of oil price drop relatively well, according to the UAE Central Bank’s statement.
The central bank estimated the UAE’s real GDP to have grown by 3.1% in 2015, while the forecasts for 2016 and 2017 are 3% and 2.9%, respectively.
The report expected non-oil GDP to have grown by 3.7% in 2015 and oil GDP by 2.2%.
After consumer prices reached almost 5% in August 2015, the highest in the GCC, inflation is slowly coming down since.
Inflationary pressures were due to two main factors; the first of which is the rise in the housing component which represents almost 40% in the CPI basket. The second factor was a change in the fuel price subsidy regime which became effective in August 2015.
The budget surplus is expected to slide into a deficit of 4.3% in 2015 and 2.1% in 2016.
In the last twelve months, total deposit growth has slowed markedly with a growth rate of just 3.5%.
