UAE – Mubasher: UK research group Economist Intelligence said it has maintained its sovereign risk valuation for the UAE at ‘BBB’, reflecting stable growth levels for the various economic sectors in the country, especially non-oil sectors, which have benefited immensely from efforts to expand the base of economic growth.

In addition, limiting the UAE’s dependency on oil revenues has helped the country’s strong growth despite the sharp drop in oil prices in the second half of 2014, the research firm said in its latest report on the second largest Arab economy.

Maintaining its risk valuation for the currency at ‘BBB’, Economist Intelligence noted that the dirham is likely to see some fluctuation in its value due to being pegged to the dollar, whose strength at present begs the question on impact of this dirham-dollar pegging on the UAE’s economic competitiveness.

The possibility of de-pegging the dirham from the dollar remains a limited, the reported added.

The research agency also kept its rating for the UAE’s banking sector at ‘BB’ and indicated that UAE banks had recorded large profits over the past two years.