According to numbers released by the Abu Dhabi Statistics Centre, the emirate achieved a remarkable 9.3% growth by the end of 2022, compared to 2021. The new figures position Abu Dhabi as the fastest-growing economy in the Middle East and North Africa region.
Abu Dhabi’s impressive growth across its diverse sectors during 2022 is attributed to its robust economic framework, coupled with a collaborative approach from both the public and private sectors. The Emirate has solidified its international position and retained its competitive edge, while also maintaining a stable macroeconomic environment.
It also reflects the success of Abu Dhabi’s diversification strategy efforts led by the Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development, (ADDED) which included nurturing a business- supportive environment, a robust regulatory framework, and unparalleled connectivity and infrastructure to enhance its capabilities to achieve a sustainable and smart economic development. The emirate has been taking strategic steps to diversify its economy while maintaining a prudent fiscal policy and progressively responding to the market needs and trends, including initiatives to further enhance legal and regulatory frameworks to encourage foreign direct investment and promote its domestic investments.
Additionally, the Abu Dhabi Industrial Strategy (ADIS), launched in June 2022, plays a major role in diversifying the emirate’s economy. ADIS aims to strengthen the emirate’s position as the region’s most competitive industrial hub by investing AED10 billion across a number of programmes to more than double the size of the sector to AED172 billion, create 13600 new jobs, and increase the emirate’s non-oil exports by to AED178.8 billion by 2031 by facilitating access to financing, enhancing ease of doing business, attracting foreign direct investments, improving access to quality infrastructure and utilities, and supporting collaboration with local and international partners.
The Q4 2022 real GDP achieved a growth of 5.9% worth AED 278.3 billion compared to the same period in 2021. The contribution of non-oil sectors to GDP reached 50.2% to record AED 139.6 billion of the GDP total value during Q4 2022.
According to 2022 GDP estimates, the non-oil sectors witnessed a notable growth of AED 43 billion, bringing the total to AED 554.6 billion by the end of 2022. This resulted in the non-oil sectors contributing 50.0% to the GDP.
Real estate activities in Abu Dhabi witnessed a remarkable increase of 17.1% compared to 2021. This growth is due to the increase in real estate projects during 2022, and the interest of international businesses to invest in this strategic sector.
Growth rates in health and social work activities increased by 16.6% during 2022 as a clear indication of the serious endeavours to strengthen the health system in accordance with the highest international standards and to enhance the role of the private sector in providing best-in-class health services.
The wholesale and retail trade activities displayed a growth rate of 11.6% in 2022, reaching AED 58.6 billion. This growth indicates the sector’s significant contribution of 5.3% to Abu Dhabi’s real GDP in 2022, reflecting thriving growth in local markets.
Also published on Medium.
