UAE cabinet greenlights its largest budget yet: The cabinet approved an AED 92.4 bn budget for the country in 2026, making it the largest in the UAE’s history, Prime Minister and Dubai Ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum posted on X yesterday following a cabinet meeting. The final spending plan sets out a whopping 29.2% y-o-y jump in expenditure compared to 2025’s AED 71.5 bn budget, while revenues will match expenditure at AED 92.4 bn.

REMEMBER- The government had hiked spending by 12% y-o-y in 2025, and approved a federal budget of AED 192 bn for 2024-2026 in October 2023.

“It is unusually expansionary for the federal budget,” GCC economist and Khalij Economics Director Justin Alexander told EnterpriseAM UAE. “Prior to [the hike last year] the budget had barely increased since 2019,” he added.

The breakdown: The largest allocation — AED 34.6 bn — will go to social development and pensions, up 24% y-o-y, while AED 27.1 bn is allocated to government affairs and AED 15.4 bn is going towards financial investments, according to a separate statement. This is four times as much as financial investments’ allocation in the 2025 budget, Alexander said, though it’s not clear what accounts for the jump.

The expenditure will likely be financed through corporate income tax revenue and higher dividends from the Emirates Investment Authority, Alexander added.

The cabinet also approved a Federal Financial Support program, which will receive annual allocations from the federal budget. The program is aimed at ensuring the long-term financial sustainability of federal institutions, according to the Prime Minister’s post.

The UAE’s cumulative foreign investment abroad hit AED 1 tn in 2024, marking a 9% y-o-y increase, making us “the first in the Arab world and among the top 20 global economies in outward FDI,” Sheikh Mohammed said in another post.

Also from the cabinet meeting:

  • The Cabinet approved 35 international agreements and MoUs in the fields of economy and cooperation;
  • an updated guidebook on the Accounting Standards in the Federal Government;
  • The reformation of the Health Council and the National Committee for Public Health, both chaired by Health and Prevention Minister Ahmed bin Ali Al Sayegh;
  • and a resolution regarding excise goods and taxes, and the executive regulations of the Federal Decree-Law on Anti-Money Laundering and Combating Financing of Terrorism, and Weapon Proliferation Financing.
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