The UAE trading sector expanded at an exceptional rate in the last decade, with merchandise imports growing at an average rate of around 11 percent per annum between 1990 and 1999, reported the UAE’s official news agency.
This was not only the highest rate in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) region and the Middle East, but also one of the highest in the world, says the report.
The agency noted that “very few countries have recorded a double-digit import growth rate for an entire decade," citing a new study by the Journal of the Emirates Industrial Bank, EIB.
The EIB study noted that export growth was relatively modest at four percent per annum, but says this has more to do with international oil prices than export capacity and potential of the country.
The UAE is now the largest importer of merchandise goods in the GCC region, outranking the regional economic giant Saudi Arabia by a small but significant margin, even though Saudi Arabia has much greater oil export revenues (almost double the UAE's), says the report.
More than one-third of the UAE's imports are re-exported, however, and this is indicative of the trading sector's importance in the non-oil economy and reducing economic dependence upon oil, the study said.
Despite its small geographical and population size, the UAE now ranks 33rd in the world as an exporter and 36th as an importer, though admittedly exports are overwhelmingly of crude oil. In terms of per capita merchandise trade, it would probably rank at the very top except for EU countries which have a very high level of trade among themselves, the study says – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
