{"id":103242,"date":"2025-05-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-05-02T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/imf-sees-abu-dhabi-economic-growth-this-year-exceeding-dubais-and-the-gccs\/"},"modified":"2025-05-02T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T00:00:00","slug":"imf-sees-abu-dhabi-economic-growth-this-year-exceeding-dubais-and-the-gccs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/05\/02\/imf-sees-abu-dhabi-economic-growth-this-year-exceeding-dubais-and-the-gccs\/","title":{"rendered":"IMF sees Abu Dhabi economic growth this year exceeding Dubai\u2019s and the GCC\u2019s"},"content":{"rendered":"

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects Abu Dhabi\u2019s e<\/strong>conomy to grow at a faster pace than Dubai\u2019s this year<\/strong>, projecting 4.2% growth for the former and 3.3% for the latter, state news agency Wam quotes IMF Middle East and Central Asia Director Jihad Azour as saying during the launch of the Fund\u2019s latest Regional Economic Outlook (pdf)<\/a> in Dubai. Abu Dhabi\u2019s economy is expected to grow a further 5.8% next year, while Dubai\u2019s could grow 3.5%. <\/p>\n

Azour <\/strong>cited continued <\/strong>expansion<\/strong> in Dubai\u2019s non-oil sector, rising infrastructure <\/strong>investment, and strong performances in real estate, construction, and financial services <\/strong>as drivers of economic growth, Al Bayan<\/a> reports. <\/p>\n

How this compares to its UAE outlook: <\/strong>The IMF maintained its UAE-wide growth forecast unchanged at 4%<\/a> for 2025 and 5% for 2026, amongst the highest in the GCC. Non-oil GDP was projected to grow by 4.5%, driven by tourism, construction, public spending, and financial services.<\/p>\n

Zooming out: <\/strong>The Fund cut its 2025 growth forecast for the wider Mena region to 2.6%, down sharply from 4% <\/a>last October<\/a><\/a>, citing ongoing geopolitical instability, oil market volatility, weak external demand, and trade uncertainty. The growth forecast among the region\u2019s oil exporters was cut to 2.3%, a downward revision from its previous 4% prediction. It also sees importing economies growing 3.4%, down from its initial forecast of 3.9% growth.<\/p>\n

GCC economies are expected to outperform the broader region<\/strong>, but 2025 growth is now seen at 3%, down from 4.2% previously. The revision reflects the extension of Opec+ production cuts through April and slower non-oil activity. That said, the IMF sees diversification efforts in the UAE and Saudi Arabia as key to supporting medium-term resilience.<\/p>\n

Risks remain tilted to the downside<\/strong>, Azour told Reuters<\/a>, citing global trade tensions, declining oil prices, and regional conflicts. \u201cUncertainty could impact the real economy, consumption, [and] investment,\u201d he said, though limited trade integration with the US may reduce direct tariff exposure. The report also flagged the conflict in Gaza and delayed reforms in Egypt as presenting headwinds regionally.<\/p>\n

What could help:<\/strong> \u201cTrade diversification, acceleration of structural reforms, and improvement of productivity are all elements that will help the non-oil sector to maintain a strong level of growth,\" Azour added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Fund downgraded its Mena growth forecast to 2.6%<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":103243,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"newspack_ads_suppress_ads":false,"newspack_popups_has_disabled_popups":false,"newspack_sponsor_sponsorship_scope":"","newspack_sponsor_native_byline_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_native_category_display":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_style":"inherit","newspack_sponsor_underwriter_placement":"inherit","ep_exclude_from_search":false,"_primary_brand":0,"newspack_featured_image_position":"","newspack_post_subtitle":"","newspack_article_summary_title":"Overview:","newspack_article_summary":"","newspack_hide_updated_date":false,"newspack_show_updated_date":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1556],"tags":[1360,87,19,7,20,2310],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"class_list":["post-103242","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","tag-abu-dhabi","tag-dubai","tag-economy","tag-enterpriseam-uae","tag-gdp","tag-imf-2","wpautop","entry"],"acf":{"mongo_id":"dcf54be9-d388-4bfe-a7a0-b7d273462968","order":"3","is_powered_by":false,"story_type":"1","photo_url":"https:\/\/ent.news\/2025\/4\/1459.jpg","photo_position":"above","homepage_title":"","full_issue_title":"IMF sees Abu Dhabi economic growth this year exceeding Dubai\u2019s and the GCC\u2019s","related_issue":[103237],"teaser":"The Fund downgraded its Mena growth forecast to 2.6%","voice_url":"https:\/\/s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com\/ent.news\/audio\/2025\/5\/.2f94b255-14f2-4d77-89b9-3d3db6a014cb.mp3"},"yoast_head":"\nIMF sees Abu Dhabi economic growth this year exceeding Dubai\u2019s and the GCC\u2019s - UAE<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/05\/02\/imf-sees-abu-dhabi-economic-growth-this-year-exceeding-dubais-and-the-gccs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"IMF sees Abu Dhabi economic growth this year exceeding Dubai\u2019s and the GCC\u2019s\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Fund downgraded its Mena growth forecast to 2.6%\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/05\/02\/imf-sees-abu-dhabi-economic-growth-this-year-exceeding-dubais-and-the-gccs\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UAE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-02T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/4\/1459.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"enterpriseam admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"enterpriseam admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/05\/02\/imf-sees-abu-dhabi-economic-growth-this-year-exceeding-dubais-and-the-gccs\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/05\/02\/imf-sees-abu-dhabi-economic-growth-this-year-exceeding-dubais-and-the-gccs\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"enterpriseam admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#\/schema\/person\/ca597032db7e4db868359c123cec256d\"},\"headline\":\"IMF sees Abu Dhabi economic growth this year exceeding Dubai\u2019s and the GCC\u2019s\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-02T00:00:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/05\/02\/imf-sees-abu-dhabi-economic-growth-this-year-exceeding-dubais-and-the-gccs\/\"},\"wordCount\":370,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/05\/02\/imf-sees-abu-dhabi-economic-growth-this-year-exceeding-dubais-and-the-gccs\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/4\/1459.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1\",\"keywords\":[\"Abu Dhabi\",\"Dubai\",\"Economy\",\"EnterpriseAM UAE\",\"GDP\",\"IMF.\"],\"articleSection\":[\"ECONOMY\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/05\/02\/imf-sees-abu-dhabi-economic-growth-this-year-exceeding-dubais-and-the-gccs\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/05\/02\/imf-sees-abu-dhabi-economic-growth-this-year-exceeding-dubais-and-the-gccs\/\",\"name\":\"IMF sees Abu Dhabi economic growth this year exceeding Dubai\u2019s and the GCC\u2019s - UAE\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/05\/02\/imf-sees-abu-dhabi-economic-growth-this-year-exceeding-dubais-and-the-gccs\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/05\/02\/imf-sees-abu-dhabi-economic-growth-this-year-exceeding-dubais-and-the-gccs\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/4\/1459.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-05-02T00:00:00+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/05\/02\/imf-sees-abu-dhabi-economic-growth-this-year-exceeding-dubais-and-the-gccs\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/05\/02\/imf-sees-abu-dhabi-economic-growth-this-year-exceeding-dubais-and-the-gccs\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/05\/02\/imf-sees-abu-dhabi-economic-growth-this-year-exceeding-dubais-and-the-gccs\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/4\/1459.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/4\/1459.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/05\/02\/imf-sees-abu-dhabi-economic-growth-this-year-exceeding-dubais-and-the-gccs\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"IMF sees Abu Dhabi economic growth this year exceeding Dubai\u2019s and the GCC\u2019s\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/\",\"name\":\"UAE\",\"description\":\"The State of the Nation\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#organization\",\"name\":\"UAE\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/ent.news\/internal\/42998.svg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/ent.news\/internal\/42998.svg\",\"caption\":\"UAE\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"}},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#\/schema\/person\/ca597032db7e4db868359c123cec256d\",\"name\":\"enterpriseam admin\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/enterpriseam.testing.projectsarea.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/author\/enterpriseam\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"IMF sees Abu Dhabi economic growth this year exceeding Dubai\u2019s and the GCC\u2019s - UAE","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/05\/02\/imf-sees-abu-dhabi-economic-growth-this-year-exceeding-dubais-and-the-gccs\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"IMF sees Abu Dhabi economic growth this year exceeding Dubai\u2019s and the GCC\u2019s","og_description":"The Fund downgraded its Mena growth forecast to 2.6%","og_url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/05\/02\/imf-sees-abu-dhabi-economic-growth-this-year-exceeding-dubais-and-the-gccs\/","og_site_name":"UAE","article_published_time":"2025-05-02T00:00:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/4\/1459.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"enterpriseam admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"enterpriseam admin","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/05\/02\/imf-sees-abu-dhabi-economic-growth-this-year-exceeding-dubais-and-the-gccs\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/05\/02\/imf-sees-abu-dhabi-economic-growth-this-year-exceeding-dubais-and-the-gccs\/"},"author":{"name":"enterpriseam admin","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#\/schema\/person\/ca597032db7e4db868359c123cec256d"},"headline":"IMF sees Abu Dhabi economic growth this year exceeding Dubai\u2019s and the GCC\u2019s","datePublished":"2025-05-02T00:00:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/05\/02\/imf-sees-abu-dhabi-economic-growth-this-year-exceeding-dubais-and-the-gccs\/"},"wordCount":370,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/05\/02\/imf-sees-abu-dhabi-economic-growth-this-year-exceeding-dubais-and-the-gccs\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/4\/1459.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","keywords":["Abu Dhabi","Dubai","Economy","EnterpriseAM UAE","GDP","IMF."],"articleSection":["ECONOMY"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/05\/02\/imf-sees-abu-dhabi-economic-growth-this-year-exceeding-dubais-and-the-gccs\/","url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/05\/02\/imf-sees-abu-dhabi-economic-growth-this-year-exceeding-dubais-and-the-gccs\/","name":"IMF sees Abu Dhabi economic growth this year exceeding Dubai\u2019s and the GCC\u2019s - UAE","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/05\/02\/imf-sees-abu-dhabi-economic-growth-this-year-exceeding-dubais-and-the-gccs\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/05\/02\/imf-sees-abu-dhabi-economic-growth-this-year-exceeding-dubais-and-the-gccs\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/4\/1459.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","datePublished":"2025-05-02T00:00:00+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/05\/02\/imf-sees-abu-dhabi-economic-growth-this-year-exceeding-dubais-and-the-gccs\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/05\/02\/imf-sees-abu-dhabi-economic-growth-this-year-exceeding-dubais-and-the-gccs\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/05\/02\/imf-sees-abu-dhabi-economic-growth-this-year-exceeding-dubais-and-the-gccs\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/4\/1459.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/4\/1459.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/05\/02\/imf-sees-abu-dhabi-economic-growth-this-year-exceeding-dubais-and-the-gccs\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"IMF sees Abu Dhabi economic growth this year exceeding Dubai\u2019s and the GCC\u2019s"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#website","url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/","name":"UAE","description":"The State of the Nation","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#organization","name":"UAE","url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/ent.news\/internal\/42998.svg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/ent.news\/internal\/42998.svg","caption":"UAE"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#\/schema\/person\/ca597032db7e4db868359c123cec256d","name":"enterpriseam admin","sameAs":["http:\/\/enterpriseam.testing.projectsarea.com"],"url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/author\/enterpriseam\/"}]}},"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/4\/1459.jpg?resize=600%2C400&ssl=1","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/4\/1459.jpg?resize=600%2C600&ssl=1","author_info":{"display_name":"enterpriseam admin","author_link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/author\/enterpriseam\/"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2025\/4\/1459.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103242","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=103242"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/103242\/revisions"}],"acf:post":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue\/103237"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/103243"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=103242"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=103242"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=103242"},{"taxonomy":"brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/brand?post=103242"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=103242"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}