While oil-exporting countries face significant challenges as result of global economic turbulences and falling oil prices, the UAE continues to achieve new levels of economic growth.

This comes as a direct result of the UAE wise leadership's forward-looking vision and its precise predictions of the region's developments-which contribute in facing growing global economic challenges, through developing and putting in place prudent financial policies and sound economic methodology that promotes sustainable economic growth.

This economic growth did not come as a surprise to experts and analysts. The economic diversification policies adopted by the UAE in the early eighties, laid down by the late Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan and guided by President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, play an essential role in strengthening income sources and building a national, knowledge-based economy founded on a spirit of creativity and innovation with deep knowledge on global economic challenges.

The International Monetary Fund praised the vision of the UAE wise leadership and the fiscal policies adopted by the Ministry of Finance.

H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and UAE Minister of Finance, stressed the country's relentless pursuit of development and prosperity for its people and residents. "The diversified financial and economic policies put in place displayed the country's high ability to cope with the oil exports challenges, debt issue coverage on an external and local level at good cost, as a result of adopting proactive steps in market liberalisation and deregulation, thereby opening up the banking sector to domestic and foreign financial institutions. In fact, this raised the efficiency of the financial system and rates of domestic reserves, and has contributed to the growth of capital markets and the continuous investment for major infrastructure projects."

Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid said, "The UAE continues to gradually restructure its financial system through enhancing financial reserves and developing policies to maintain financial and monetary stability and push sustainable economic growth, as well as policy reforms in removing oil dependency and laying foundations in implementing VAT. The UAE has an important status as active player in economic diversification. Despite being the sixth largest oil exporter, the revenues of this sector amounts to 30 percent of the total financial resources of the country; where the economic and financial indicators confirm unprecedented growth in other sectors".

Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid added, "The decline in oil prices is part of the global economic cycle. The oil-producing countries faced similar cases in the mid-eighties, which the UAE overcame thanks to its lead in setting the right methodology, managing resources and controlling costs. This phase is a continuous part of the economic cycle which I trust the country will overcome due to its proper planning, spending restraints frameworks, financial adaptation and creating sustainable government revenues by depending on alternative oil resources".

The UAE's leading sustainable journey received great interest and appreciation on different regional and international levels.

During her visit to the UAE in February, Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), highlighted the wise fiscal policies adopted by the country; that enhanced its competitiveness and made bank assets, owned by the local banking sectors, the largest of its kind in the region making the UAE the second largest economy in the region and 17th globally according to the World Economic Forum (WEF) indicators.

Christine Lagarde highlighted the leading role of the UAE's wise leadership in managing the process of growth and development. The goal is for the UAE to become one the most competitive economies in the world by 2021 with the implementation of diverse economic policies and by encouraging the growth of the industrial and non-oil sectors as alternatives to oil. The efforts exerted by different governments resulted in the UAE's non-oil exports exceeding the aggregate of other GCC countries.
 

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