Abu Dhabi’s economy grew 10.5%, fastest in MENA region
ABU DHABI, UAE—The capital of the United Arab Emirates, Abu Dhabi, posted a 10.5% growth on its economy for the first nine months of 2022, compared to the same period in 2021, the highest in the Middle East and North Africa region.
Abu Dhabi’s real GDP exceeded AED830 billion during the period with practically all sectors showing a double-digit growth, including transportation and storage activities which grew by 11.4%, according to the Statistics Center – Abu Dhabi, (SCAD).
SCAD said the transportation and storage sector saw an added value of AED14 billion in the first nine months of 2022, which boosted the emirate’s GDP by 1.7%. It covers the transportation of passengers and cargo via rail, road, water, or air, and related storage activities. Abu Dhabi Airports reported that the Emirate’s airports were used by a combined total of 15.9 million passengers in 2022.
Abu Dhabi continued to grow in leaps and bounds at the end of Q3 2022 across its various sectors thanks to the collaborative efforts of various government and private sector organizations. Abu Dhabi strengthened its international standing and maintained its competitiveness and macroeconomic stability.
Abu Dhabi has launched a number of initiatives in recent years as it focuses on diversifying its economy away from oil, promoting its non-oil economic activities, maintaining a prudent fiscal policy and progressively responding to the market needs and trends to upgrade the regulatory and legal frameworks to encourage foreign direct investment and promote its domestic investments.
“Abu Dhabi’s robust economy continues to prove its superiority driven by our leadership’s clear vision, its ability to attract foreign direct investments and agile policies that enabled our economy to achieve the strongest growth in the region,” said Ahmed Jasim Al Zaabi, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development (ADDED).
Ahmed Mahmoud Fikri, Director General of SCAD, noted: “According to statistical estimates of the first nine months of 2022, all economic sectors demonstrated impressive growth with the exceptional performance of main economic sectors. This included remarkable increases that portend a bright future for indicating a thriving and robust economy.”
The non-oil sectors contributed 50.3% to Abu Dhabi’s GDP, up by AED 39 billion compared to the same period in 2021 to reach AED 417.3 billion in total by the end of Q3 2022. Its real estate sector posted the highest growth at 20.3% followed by the accommodation and food services sector at 20.2%.
