The International Monetary Fund expects Abu Dhabi’s economy to grow by 6% and Dubai’s by 3.4% during 2025

The International Monetary Fund expects the Emirate of Abu Dhabi to achieve economic growth of about 6%, and that the Emirate of Dubai will record growth of up to 3.4% during the current year 2025.

This came in statements by Dr. Jihad Azour, Director of the Middle East and Central Asia Department at the International Monetary Fund, during a press conference organized by the Dubai International Financial Center in cooperation with the Fund, under the title “The International Monetary Fund’s Regional Economic Outlook: Middle East and North Africa Report.”

Azour said that the Fund expected the UAE’s economy to grow by 4.8% in 2025, rising to about 5% in 2026, which is the highest expected percentage among the Gulf Cooperation Council countries, after the strong performance shown by the UAE economy this year.

He explained that the high growth rate in the UAE is mainly driven by service sectors, such as tourism, financial services and the real estate sector, noting that growth in Abu Dhabi in particular is receiving additional support from improved oil production after the re-liberalization of the OPEC Plus agreement, in addition to the strong performance of the service and real estate sectors.

In a related context, Dr. Azour, in response to a question from the Emirates News Agency, WAM, revealed a remarkable development represented by the International Monetary Fund’s work to open an office in Damascus. He said: We are working with the Syrian authorities to secure the greatest amount of support and assistance, especially technical and institutional support in the first phase, stressing that one of the decisions is for the IMF to have an office in Syria.

He added: We are currently looking into this matter, and the opening date of this office will be announced soon.

He stressed that communication with Syria is continuing, as a delegation from the Fund visited Damascus last July, after meetings that took place in February, and other meetings on the sidelines of the recent annual meetings of the Fund and the World Bank.

However, Azour pointed out that there are large gaps in statistics in Syria, which currently makes it difficult to make accurate forecasts of the growth rates of the Syrian economy.

He revealed that the Fund is in the process of preparing a specialized mission to work with the authorities there on the status of general statistics, in addition to financial and monetary statistics, in preparation for the next stage of Article Four consultations, which will be the basic stage for developing a clear vision of the situation of the Syrian economy.

During the conference, Azour reviewed the future expectations of the region, noting that the Gulf countries were able during the past years to confront a group of major global challenges, starting with the Covid-19 pandemic, through geopolitical shocks and others.

He also touched on the impact of technology, digital transformation, and artificial intelligence on economies, explaining that these technologies will be one of the basic stations in the transformation of the global economy, given their role in raising the level of productivity and accelerating growth. But he pointed out its impact on the nature of jobs, as it is expected that about 40% of jobs in advanced economies will be affected, explaining that this does not necessarily mean losing them, but rather transforming them into more productive and efficient jobs.

Azour stressed that the region has an important demographic advantage thanks to the high proportion of youth, which represents a great opportunity to invest in human capabilities and digital skills to enhance growth and productivity.