Dubai’s Economic Growth

Dubai’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) as of 2006 was US$46 Billion. It is estimated that Dubai presently produces 240,000 barrels of oil a day and a substantial quantity of gas from off shore fields. The emirate’s share in the UAE’s oil and gas revenues is around 2%. Although Dubai and its economy was largely built on the back of the oil industry, currently less than 3% of the emirates revenue comes from oil or natural gas.

On February 3rd 2007, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum unveiled the Dubai Strategic Plan (DSP) 2015, a broad-based plan that outlines the emirate’s economic and social targets for the next 8 years.

The main objectives of the DSP are achieving a GDP of US$108bn and raising real per capital income to US$44,000 by the end of the plans life span.

If past achievements are anything to go on, Dubai has a good chance of meeting these ambitious targets. In 2000 Sheikh Mohammed laid out an economic agenda in the emirate for the coming decade, which he labelled “The Vision of Dubai”. This plan targeted increasing the GDP to US$30bn and the per capita income to US$23,000, by mid point of the DSP the GDP was sitting at US$37bn and the per capita income had increased to US$31,000. A boom in the financial and services industries meant that the non-oil sector now represented 95% of the GDP.

The government’s decision to diversify from a trade-based but oil reliant economy to one that is service and tourism orientated has hugely increased the value of real estate in Dubai. World beating developments such as The Palms and soon to be the worlds tallest building The Burj Dubai have placed Dubai firmly in the minds of tourists and investors alike.