Dubai – Mubasher: Dubai diversified its economy and slashed its dependence on oil returns, which boosted its growth and globalised the largest emirate in the UAE, according to a report released by Bloomberg.
Oil returns, which were making up 50% of Dubai’s gross domestic product (GDP), now are accounting for less than 1% of its GDP.
The economic development was accelerated when oil prices reached its peak in 2008, which equalled $147 per barrel, and kept its course after the global financial crisis, and even when oil hit $26 in 2016, Bloomberg revealed.
“The building boom [in Dubai] persisted even as Dubai World, the government-owned holding company, sought a "standstill" on debt repayments while it restructured $25 billion of debt in November 2009 and some borrowers fled the emirate as a result,” the report stated.
The development of infrastructure and the big shift towards green energy turned the emirate into an important business hub in the Middle East.
“Dubai now is poised to be the growth leader among the six countries in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), with GDP expanding 3% or more this year and in 2019,” Bloomberg concluded.
