UAE – Mubasher: The UAE economy showed better-than-expected performance in 2020 despite the global challenges posed by the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Minister of Economy, Abdulla Bin Touq Al Marri, said.

The initial economic results released by the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre showed a slight drop in the GCC nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) and non-oil GDP by 6.1% and 6.2%, respectively, at constant real prices, according to a statement on Sunday.

The activation of non-oil economic initiatives has impacted positively the country’s non-oil GDP, which registered AED 1.006 trillion at constant prices in 2020, while the GDP at constant prices stood at AED 1.419 trillion.

In addition, government spending surged by more than AED 1.17 billion year-on-year (YoY) in 2020, while investments resulting from capital additions grew by 3.9%, amounting to more than AED 13.1 billion.

As for the economic activities negatively affected by the pandemic, accommodation and food services activities declined by 23.6% and transportation and storage activities dropped by 15.5%.

In addition, wholesale and retail trade fell by 13.1%, while construction and building activities decreased by 10.4% and financial and insurance activities slid by 3%.

Meanwhile, the manufacturing industries grew by 0.2% YoY in 2020.

The continuation of the recovery plan and support packages is expected to support the UAE’s economy to restore growth with an estimated rate of 2.5% in real GDP and 3.6% in non-oil real GDP in 2021 and 3.5% in real GDP and 3.9% in non-oil real GDP in 2022, Bin Touq pointed out.

The Ministry of Economy aims to double its economy over the next 10 years to reach AED 3 trillion by 2031, he revealed.