The minister of economy for the UAE has stated that 7% annual GDP growth is his own personal target, but 4.9% non-oil growth is possible for this year.

Whilst speaking at the Dubai Fintech Summit, Abdulla bin Touq Al Marri said 7% growth per year, which the UAE would need to hit its goal of doubling its GDP by 2030, was “my target, my own personal target.”  

The UAE plans to double its output by the end of 2030, Zawya reports.

The minister stated that the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank anticipate the UAE’s GDP to grow at 4.2% this year, going on to add that there is a possibility of non-oil GDP experiencing growth of 4.9%.

“When I said it, I said I want to do 7% per year, a year I get it, a year I don’t. It depends on the economy, what’s really happening in the economy globally,” Al Marri told the Fintech Summit.

“We are looking at 4-5% this year, maybe 5% GDP growth, that’s something we are eying,” he continued.

Al Marri added that non-oil GDP growth is crucial for the country to diversify away from oil.

“We see growth away from traditional economies such as real estate and tourism to new types of tourism, such as sustainable tourism, health tech, we’re looking into AI, generative AI, the UAE is becoming the capital of AI,” he commented.

Furthermore, despite the recent floods in the UAE, which saw an unprecedented amount of rain in just 10 hours last month, they did not have a significant impact on the country’s economy. The minister said that such an event was unforeseeable and something no city or country could have planned for.  

Al Marri noted that business continued remotely during the floods thanks to infrastructure such as high-speed WiFi.