Abu Dhabi’s economy expanded by 3.8% in 2024, reaching an all-time high of AED 1.2 tn, the Abu Dhabi Statistics Center said in a statement. Growth came on the back of an expansion in the non-oil sector, which grew 6.2%, marking a contribution of 54.7% to GDP — its highest ever.

By the sector: The manufacturing sector remained the biggest non-oil contributor to GDP, with a 9.5% share and a record value of AED 111.6 bn, and 2.7% y-o-y growth. Coming in at a close second: the construction sector, which accounted for 9.1% of total GDP, growing 11.3% y-o-y. The financial and ins. sector also grew 10.7% y-o-y, contributing 6.6% of GDP, while the information and communications sector grew by the same amount and contributed 2.2%. Wholesale and retail contributed 5.3% of GDP, and transport and storage — which grew the most out of all sectors at 16.9% — accounted for 2.4%.

In 4Q, GDP grew by 4.4%, while non-oil GDP expanded by 6.6%.

Abu Dhabi’s growth mirrors federal levels of growth last year: The UAE’s real GDP grew 3.8% y-o-y in 9M 2024 to reach AED 1.3 tn, with non-oil activity contributing 74.6% to total GDP. GDP is expected to have grown around 4% last year, according to the Central Bank of the UAE, with the cabinet saying it surpassed AED 1.7 tn. The Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) sees growth coming in at 4.7% this year, while S&P Global and Fitch Solutions’ research unit BMI are the most optimistic of the bunch, expecting the UAE’s real GDP to grow by 5.1% this year. On the lower end, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank revised their forecasts for the UAE’s economy this year to 4.0%.

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