The World Bank’s latest semi-annual MENA Economic Update released on Wednesday,
indicates that the GDP of the UAE is projected to grow at 3.3% in 2024, rising to 4.1% in 2025 Update.
Entitled “Growth in the Middle East and North Africa’’, the report noted that the UAE is expected to lead with 2024 real GDP per capita growth rates of 2.5 per cent, and 3.4 per cent in 2025 driven by robust growth in the non-oil sector.
According to the report, the UAE’s current account surplus is expected to decline to 7.5 per cent in 2024 down from 9.2 per cent of GDP in 2023, despite continued diversification efforts. The UAE is expected to sustain fiscal surpluses of 4.9 per cent of GDP in 2024, and 4.7 per cent in 2025, the report said.
In 2025, MENA is expected to grow at 3.8 per cent. Growth in GCC countries is expected to strengthen to 4.2 per cent in 2025, up from 1.9 per cent in 2024. Growth in developing oil exporters is forecast at 2.7 per cent in 2024 and at 2.1 per cent for developing oil importers.
The report forecasts the region’s overall GDP growth to rise modestly to 2.2 per cent in 2024 in real terms, up from 1.8 per cent in 2023. This uptick is driven by Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, where growth is projected to rise from 0.5 per cent in 2023 to 1.9 per cent in 2024 and 4.2 percent in 2025.
In the rest of MENA, growth is expected to decelerate. Oil importers’ growth is forecast to slow from 3.2 per cent in 2023 to 2.1 per cent in 2024, and that of non-GCC oil exporters to decline from 3.2 per cent to 2.7 per cent.
