UAE Dirham continues to appreciate against top trade

The UAE Dirham has continued to appreciate in Q1 2017 for the twelfth consecutive quarter, according to Central Bank of the UAE statistics.
With a few exceptions, the Dirham appreciated against most of the UAE’s main trade partners. From the import side, the weighted Dirham’s appreciation against its top-nine non-dollarised import partners, which claim 48.5 percent of the UAE total imports, was 0.37% in Q1 of 2017.
The UAE currency has appreciated against all its main import partners, with a simple average bilateral appreciation of 1.2% during the first quarter of 20175 . The highest quarterly appreciation was against the Japanese Yen, where the Dirham gained around 3.6%. Japan is contributing around 5.7% in the total imports of the UAE. On the other hand, the Dirham gained 1.2% against the Euro. Imports from Germany, Italy and France account altogether for more than 24% of total imports.
The Dirham gained also 0.7% and 0.3% against the Chinese Yuan and the GB Pound. As the top-one importer to the UAE, China is contributing 12.4% to the total imports.
The most important recorded gains were against the GB Pound (15.6%), the Chinese Yuan (5.3%) and the Euro (1.5%) accounting for 27.8% of total imports. However. On the non-oil export side, the Dirham has appreciated against its top-nine non-dollarised export partners. The weighted appreciation was 0.63% in Q1 2017 compared to the previous quarter.

Source: WAM