Dubai to grow 4-5% in 2012

Dubai’s gross domestic economic product is projected to pick up and grow by around 4-5 per cent in 2012, fuelled by strong performance of trade and other non-hydrocarbon sectors, an official was reported on Saturday as saying. The forecast growth is far higher than projections by most other institutions, including the Washington-based Institute for International Finance (IIF), which expects the emirate’s real GDP to swell by about 2.5 per cent this year. “Our projections show Dubai’s real GDP will grow by 4-5 per cent this year compared with around three per cent in 2011,” said Ali Tawfiq Al Sadeq, chief economist at Dubai’s Economic Council. “Growth this year will be supported by expansion in overall economic activities and strong performance of key sectors…this was shown in the first quarter of 2012,” he told the semi official Arabic language daily Alittihad. Al Sadeq said his high forecasts for Dubai’s GDP were based on the several factors, including the strength of the emirate’s trade sector and other non-oil economies, expanding business opportunities, Dubai’s openness, an improvement in global economies and revised projections by the IMF and the World Bank for higher regional and global growth rates. He said trade and other five key sectors, including tourism and industry, account for nearly 96 per cent of Dubai’s GDP, the second largest after Abu Dhabi. “These six sectors are expected to drive GDP growth this year and I believe that investors will find great opportunities in the emirate in 2012.”