{"id":108870,"date":"2025-10-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2025-10-28T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/cabinet-approves-record-aed-92-4-bn-2026-budget\/"},"modified":"2025-10-28T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2025-10-28T00:00:00","slug":"cabinet-approves-record-aed-92-4-bn-2026-budget","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2025\/10\/28\/cabinet-approves-record-aed-92-4-bn-2026-budget\/","title":{"rendered":"Cabinet approves record AED 92.4 bn 2026 budget"},"content":{"rendered":"

UAE cab<\/strong>inet greenlights its largest budget yet: <\/strong>The cabinet approved an AED 92.4 bn budget for the country in 2026, making it the largest in the UAE\u2019s history, Prime Minister and Dubai Ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum posted<\/a> 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\u2019s AED 71.5 bn<\/a> budget, while revenues will match expenditure at AED 92.4 bn. <\/p>\n

REMEMBER- <\/strong>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.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is unusually expa<\/strong>nsionary for the federal budget,\u201d<\/strong> GCC economist and Khalij Economics Director Justin Alexander told EnterpriseAM UAE. \u201cPrior to [the hike last year] the budget had barely increased since 2019,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

The breakdown: <\/strong>The largest allocation \u2014 AED 34.6 bn \u2014 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<\/a>. This is four times as much as financial investments\u2019 allocation in the 2025 budget, Alexander said, though it\u2019s not clear what accounts for the jump. <\/p>\n

The expenditure will likely be financed through corp<\/strong>orate income tax revenue and higher dividends from the Emirates Investment Authority<\/strong>, Alexander added. <\/p>\n

The cabinet also approved a Federal Financial Support program, which will receive annual allocations from the federal budget<\/strong>. The program is aimed at ensuring the long-term financial sustainability of federal institutions, according to the Prime Minister\u2019s post. <\/p>\n

The UAE\u2019s cumulative foreign investment abroad hit AED <\/strong>1<\/strong> tn in 2024, marking a 9% y-o-y increase<\/strong>, making us \u201cthe first in the Arab world and among the top 20 global economies in outward FDI,\u201d Sheikh Mohammed said in another post<\/a>. <\/p>\n

Also from the cabinet meeting:<\/strong><\/p>\n