Today, Sunday, the government of the United Arab Emirates approved a budget of 58 billion dirhams ($ 15.8 billion) for next year.
The UAE Cabinet approved a smaller federal budget for the year 2021 in an indication that the state is cutting spending amid the repercussions of the new Corona virus crisis and a decrease Oil prices.
The International Monetary Fund expects that the UAE economy will witness a contraction of 6.6% this year, and that it will return to a modest growth rate of 1.3% next year, and it predicts that the budget deficit of the UAE government - including the combined finances of the federal government, the Emirates of Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Sharjah - will reach 9.9%, from GDP this year, up from 0.8%, in 2019.
It is stated that the federal budget constitutes only a small part of the total public spending in the Emirates as each emirate has its own budget. But it gives an indication of the official plans for the country's economy.
It should be noted that the federal budget, which reached 61.35 billion dirhams for the year 2020, was considered the largest since the establishment of the state.
