While Abu Dhabi, the largest and wealthiest emirate, has still abundant oil and natural gas – the UAE has the seventh largest oil reserves in the world – other emirates have all but run out of oil and have therefore been trying to diversify their economies. Abu Dhabi has joined this effort, investing heavily in other economic sectors, such as banking and finance, construction and real estate, trade and commerce, industry, tourism, and entertainment.

According to 2011 Worldbank figures, the UAE’s total (nominal) GDP was USD 360.2 billion, the 30th largest in the world. Its per capita GDP (USD 45,653) was, according to the World Bank, the 21st largest in the world. The UAE’s Abu Dhabi Investment Authority (ADIA) is considered the largest sovereign wealth fund (SWF) in the world, with an estimated value in managed assets totaling USD 627 billion. The UAE’s currency, the dirham (Arab Emirates Dirham, AED), is pegged to the USD (in 2011, AED 1 = USD 0.3).

The UAE used its oil revenues (discovered in the early 1960s) and a growing network of commercial and financial ties to attract global investment, skilled expatriate professionals, and migrant workers to achieve phenomenal economic development in a record short time. The country’s name became synonymous with economic boom, and cities such as Dubai became world-famous for unique, modern shopping malls and other facilities and huge, architecturally stunning real-estate and business projects, such as the Palm Islands and the Burj Khalifa, the tallest building in the world. In 2008-2009, however, the combination of falling oil prices, collapsing real-estate markets, and the international financial and banking crisis struck the UAE economy hard. Dubai was the hardest hit and needed to be bailed out by its rich neighbour, Abu Dhabi.

⇒  Energy

⇒  Infrastructure and Transport

⇒  Services

⇒  Industrial Sector

⇒  Diversifying the Economy

⇒  Agriculture

⇒  Trade

⇒  Tourism

⇒  Abu Dhabi and Northern Emirates

⇒  Development Aid