Dubai just announced an $8.7 Trillion economic plan; here’s the list of sectors that will benefit
The Dubai government unveiled a massive $8.7 trillion economic plan for the next decade, aiming at boosting commerce, foreign investment, and its status as a global powerhouse.
“Dubai will rank as one of the top four global financial centers with an increase in FDI to over AED 650 billion ($177 billion) over the next decade, over 300,000 global investors are helping build Dubai into the fastest growing global city.” Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, tweeted.
The post detailed some of the 100 “future transformational projects” specified in the ten-year economic blueprint. These include increasing foreign trade to 25.6 trillion dirhams from 14.2 trillion dirhams in the previous decade, nearly doubling annual foreign direct investment to 60 billion dirhams, and increasing government spending from 512 billion dirhams in the previous decade to 700 billion in the following decade.
The plan also aims to increase private sector investments from 790 billion dirhams in the previous decade to 1 trillion in the next, as well as pledge 100 billion dirhams in annual contributions to the economy from digital transformation projects, with the goal of doubling the size of its economy in the next decade and becoming one of the “top 3 economic cities in the world,” according to the Sheikh’s tweet.
The Culture
Dubai has long been a regional hub for the Middle East, but it has recently undertaken reforms to establish contact with the globe as a whole. It boasts a diversified 90% expatriate population and has long offered lifestyles akin to those found in the Western world, including beaches, no income tax, and one of the world’s lowest crime rates.
To align with the rest of the world, the UAE recently converted its Islamic weekend of Friday-Saturday to the Western weekend of Saturday-Sunday and began providing a remote worker visa program during the coronavirus outbreak as more individuals chose a remote work lifestyle.
Due to an early vaccination distribution for its whole population in early 2021, Dubai was able to return to “normal life” during the pandemic far sooner than most other regions, attracting waves of new residents and visitors. Its real estate industry is now thriving, and Dubai was recently named one of the top 10 finest cities in the world for ex-pats to live and work.
As much of the globe prepare for a bleak and gloomy 2023, with projections of widespread recessions, high energy costs, and poor economic development, Nomura’s Fadlallah believes the Gulf nations will thrive, bolstered by still-high oil prices and spurred by a desire to diversify their economies.
“I think the GCC is going through a Golden Age,” Fadlallah said, referring to the Gulf Cooperation Council states. Its “economies have never been bigger, stronger, more diversified and more integrated into the global economy.”