$8.7 trillion economic plan aims to double size of economy in the next ten years
Dubai has announced an enormous $8.7 trillion economic plan for the next ten years, designed to accelerate trade, foreign investment, and its position as a major international hub.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai, tweeted, “Dubai will rank as one of the top four global financial centres with an increase in FDI to over AED 650 billion over the next decade. Over 300,000 global investors are helping build Dubai into the fastest growing global city”
To achieve this, the post mentioned 100 “future transformational projects” featured in the ten-year economic roadmap. This roadmap includes increasing foreign trade to 25.6 trillion dirhams (from 14.2 trillion dirhams over the last decade), nearly doubling annual foreign direct investment to 60 billion dirhams, and raising government spending from 512 billion dirhams in the last decade to 700 billion dirhams in the next.
Additionally, the plan seeks to raise private sector investments from 790 billion dirhams in the last decade to 1 trillion dirhams in the next decade, as well as contribute 100 billion dirhams annually to the economy from digital transformation projects.
With these objectives in mind, the Sheikh’s tweet declared Dubai’s ultimate ambition to become one of the “top 3 economic cities around the world” by doubling the size of its economy in the next ten years.
Dubai recently announced the abolishment of its 30% alcohol tax in order to boost tourism and business. The move is part of a series of reforms that have been implemented in recent years to make the UAE’s commercial and tourism hub more appealing to foreign investors and companies.
Dubai has increasingly become more connected to the rest of the world, with a vibrant 90% expatriate population offering lifestyles similar to those in the West accompanied by sunshine, no income tax, and one of the lowest crime rates in the world.
To further align themselves with the rest of the world, the UAE recently shifted their Islamic weekend to the Western Saturday-Sunday, and have initiated a remote worker visa program to make it easier for those taking on a remote work lifestyle during the pandemic.
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