{"id":111321,"date":"2026-01-12T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-01-12T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/?p=111321"},"modified":"2026-01-12T03:05:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-12T03:05:08","slug":"ci-affirms-uaes-aa-rating-as-reserves-projected-to-hit-usd-280-bn-in-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/12\/ci-affirms-uaes-aa-rating-as-reserves-projected-to-hit-usd-280-bn-in-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"CI affirms UAE\u2019s AA- rating as reserves projected to hit USD 280 bn in 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

Capital<\/strong> Intelligence affirmed the UAE\u2019s long-term foreign and local currency <\/strong>ratings at AA-<\/strong> with a stable outlook, alongside an A1+ short-term rating, according to a statement (pdf)<\/a>. This comes as the UAE\u2019s liquidity reserves and diversification efforts continue to insulate its economy from regional volatility, including escalations in Yemen and ongoing tensions between the US and Iran.<\/p>\n

The international liquidity shield:<\/strong> Official reserves are projected to have reached USD 280 bn by end-2025, and to cover 215.4% of all external debt maturing in 2026. This signals to global markets that the UAE's solvency remains robust even if Red Sea tensions or broader regional frictions escalate further, the report indicates.<\/p>\n

The rating is constrained by the UAE\u2019s relative dependence on hydrocarbon revenues<\/strong> (accounting for around 40% of government revenueS), along with budget rigidities and high geopolitical risk, CI said. <\/p>\n

Why it matters: <\/strong>This liquidity cushion is the foundation for a projected 5.1% growth spurt in 2026. CI\u2019s outlook assumes that Opec+ production cuts will begin a \u201cgradual phase-out\u201d in 1Q 2026-27, allowing the UAE to monetize its expanded production capacity. While oil prices are conservatively forecasted at USD 60 \/ bbl<\/a> for 2026-27, a budget surplus of 4.7% of GDP is expected \u2014 with growth in non-hydrocarbon sectors and increased output largely balancing the impact of a weaker price environment.<\/p>\n

How this compares to other ratings: <\/strong>Fitch Ratings previously gave<\/a> UAE banks a stable outlook, reflecting the strength of the sovereign rating at AA-. While Moody\u2019s adjusted its outlook to \u201cstable\u201d as a precautionary measure, S&P Global affirmed strong credit ratings, noting that risks associated with consumer lending \u2014 which grew by 13.6% annually to reach AED 540 bn \u2014 remain manageable.<\/p>\n

The outlook: <\/strong>An upgrade remains on the table if the UAE reduces its reliance on hydrocarbons, improves data transparency regarding sovereign wealth fund assets, and sees a durable decline in regional geopolitical tensions. Conversely, a downgrade could be triggered by a prolonged disruption to oil flows due to regional conflict, a sharp and sustained drop in oil prices that increases refinancing risks, or a significant deterioration in the fiscal balance sheet that erodes the country\u2019s current net creditor position.<\/p>\n

(** Tap or click the headline above to read this story with all of the links <\/strong>to our background as well as external sources.)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ratings could see improvement if the UAE pivots its economy away from hydrocarbon dependency<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":111322,"comment_status":"closed","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":[1391,19,7],"brand":[],"newspack_spnsrs_tax":[],"class_list":["post-111321","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","tag-debt","tag-economy","tag-enterpriseam-uae","wpautop","entry"],"acf":{"mongo_id":"0da52b6f-d84b-4256-ae25-655221a539b7","order":"7","is_powered_by":false,"story_type":"1","photo_url":"https:\/\/ent.news\/2024\/10\/683.jpg","photo_position":"above","homepage_title":"","full_issue_title":"CI affirms UAE\u2019s AA- rating as reserves projected to hit USD 280 bn in 2025","related_issue":[111309],"teaser":"Ratings could see improvement if the UAE pivots its economy away from hydrocarbon dependency"},"yoast_head":"\nCI affirms UAE\u2019s AA- rating as reserves projected to hit USD 280 bn in 2025 - 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\/2026\/01\/12\/ci-affirms-uaes-aa-rating-as-reserves-projected-to-hit-usd-280-bn-in-2025\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"CI affirms UAE\u2019s AA- rating as reserves projected to hit USD 280 bn in 2025\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Ratings could see improvement if the UAE pivots its economy away from hydrocarbon dependency\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/12\/ci-affirms-uaes-aa-rating-as-reserves-projected-to-hit-usd-280-bn-in-2025\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"UAE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-01-12T00:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-12T03:05:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2024\/10\/683.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\/2026\/01\/12\/ci-affirms-uaes-aa-rating-as-reserves-projected-to-hit-usd-280-bn-in-2025\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/12\/ci-affirms-uaes-aa-rating-as-reserves-projected-to-hit-usd-280-bn-in-2025\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"enterpriseam admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#\/schema\/person\/ca597032db7e4db868359c123cec256d\"},\"headline\":\"CI affirms UAE\u2019s AA- rating as reserves projected to hit USD 280 bn in 2025\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-12T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-12T03:05:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/12\/ci-affirms-uaes-aa-rating-as-reserves-projected-to-hit-usd-280-bn-in-2025\/\"},\"wordCount\":391,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/12\/ci-affirms-uaes-aa-rating-as-reserves-projected-to-hit-usd-280-bn-in-2025\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2024\/10\/683.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1\",\"keywords\":[\"debt\",\"Economy\",\"EnterpriseAM UAE\"],\"articleSection\":[\"ECONOMY\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/12\/ci-affirms-uaes-aa-rating-as-reserves-projected-to-hit-usd-280-bn-in-2025\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/12\/ci-affirms-uaes-aa-rating-as-reserves-projected-to-hit-usd-280-bn-in-2025\/\",\"name\":\"CI affirms UAE\u2019s AA- rating as reserves projected to hit USD 280 bn in 2025 - UAE\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/12\/ci-affirms-uaes-aa-rating-as-reserves-projected-to-hit-usd-280-bn-in-2025\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/12\/ci-affirms-uaes-aa-rating-as-reserves-projected-to-hit-usd-280-bn-in-2025\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2024\/10\/683.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-01-12T00:00:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-12T03:05:08+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/12\/ci-affirms-uaes-aa-rating-as-reserves-projected-to-hit-usd-280-bn-in-2025\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/12\/ci-affirms-uaes-aa-rating-as-reserves-projected-to-hit-usd-280-bn-in-2025\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/12\/ci-affirms-uaes-aa-rating-as-reserves-projected-to-hit-usd-280-bn-in-2025\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2024\/10\/683.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2024\/10\/683.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/12\/ci-affirms-uaes-aa-rating-as-reserves-projected-to-hit-usd-280-bn-in-2025\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"CI affirms UAE\u2019s AA- rating as reserves projected to hit USD 280 bn in 2025\"}]},{\"@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":"CI affirms UAE\u2019s AA- rating as reserves projected to hit USD 280 bn in 2025 - 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\/2026\/01\/12\/ci-affirms-uaes-aa-rating-as-reserves-projected-to-hit-usd-280-bn-in-2025\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"CI affirms UAE\u2019s AA- rating as reserves projected to hit USD 280 bn in 2025","og_description":"Ratings could see improvement if the UAE pivots its economy away from hydrocarbon dependency","og_url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/12\/ci-affirms-uaes-aa-rating-as-reserves-projected-to-hit-usd-280-bn-in-2025\/","og_site_name":"UAE","article_published_time":"2026-01-12T00:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-01-12T03:05:08+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2024\/10\/683.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\/2026\/01\/12\/ci-affirms-uaes-aa-rating-as-reserves-projected-to-hit-usd-280-bn-in-2025\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/12\/ci-affirms-uaes-aa-rating-as-reserves-projected-to-hit-usd-280-bn-in-2025\/"},"author":{"name":"enterpriseam admin","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#\/schema\/person\/ca597032db7e4db868359c123cec256d"},"headline":"CI affirms UAE\u2019s AA- rating as reserves projected to hit USD 280 bn in 2025","datePublished":"2026-01-12T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-12T03:05:08+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/12\/ci-affirms-uaes-aa-rating-as-reserves-projected-to-hit-usd-280-bn-in-2025\/"},"wordCount":391,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/12\/ci-affirms-uaes-aa-rating-as-reserves-projected-to-hit-usd-280-bn-in-2025\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2024\/10\/683.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","keywords":["debt","Economy","EnterpriseAM UAE"],"articleSection":["ECONOMY"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/12\/ci-affirms-uaes-aa-rating-as-reserves-projected-to-hit-usd-280-bn-in-2025\/","url":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/12\/ci-affirms-uaes-aa-rating-as-reserves-projected-to-hit-usd-280-bn-in-2025\/","name":"CI affirms UAE\u2019s AA- rating as reserves projected to hit USD 280 bn in 2025 - UAE","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/12\/ci-affirms-uaes-aa-rating-as-reserves-projected-to-hit-usd-280-bn-in-2025\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/12\/ci-affirms-uaes-aa-rating-as-reserves-projected-to-hit-usd-280-bn-in-2025\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2024\/10\/683.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","datePublished":"2026-01-12T00:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-12T03:05:08+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/12\/ci-affirms-uaes-aa-rating-as-reserves-projected-to-hit-usd-280-bn-in-2025\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/12\/ci-affirms-uaes-aa-rating-as-reserves-projected-to-hit-usd-280-bn-in-2025\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/12\/ci-affirms-uaes-aa-rating-as-reserves-projected-to-hit-usd-280-bn-in-2025\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2024\/10\/683.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","contentUrl":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2024\/10\/683.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/2026\/01\/12\/ci-affirms-uaes-aa-rating-as-reserves-projected-to-hit-usd-280-bn-in-2025\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"CI affirms UAE\u2019s AA- rating as reserves projected to hit USD 280 bn in 2025"}]},{"@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\/2024\/10\/683.jpg?resize=600%2C400&ssl=1","featured_image_src_square":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/ent.news\/2024\/10\/683.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\/2024\/10\/683.jpg?fit=%2C&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111321","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=111321"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111321\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":111358,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/111321\/revisions\/111358"}],"acf:post":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/issue\/111309"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/111322"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=111321"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=111321"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=111321"},{"taxonomy":"brand","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/brand?post=111321"},{"taxonomy":"newspack_spnsrs_tax","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/enterpriseam.com\/uae\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/newspack_spnsrs_tax?post=111321"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}