The Central Bank of UAE expects that economic activity in the emirates will resume in the second half of this year, after witnessing a mix first quarter, media reports said.
In its Quarterly Economic Review 2020 published on Wednesday, the Central Bank of UAE that the Targeted Economic Support Scheme, by the CBUAE and the economic stimulus packages announced by both local and federal governments are likely to weigh in positively on the PMI, real estate prices, employment and credit growth with a positive impact on the overall sentiment.
The central bank also said that UAE’s economy is likely to contract by 3.6 percent this year as the country introduced lockdown measures to curb the spread of the coronavirus.
In the first quarter of this year, the UAE economy shrank by 1 percent year on year, with non-oil gross domestic product down by 3 percent, as opposed to hydrocarbon GDP, which rose by 3.7 percent year on year.
The World Bank also forecasts that the UAE’s economy will contract by 4.5 percent this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The World Bank says UAE’s economy will however pick up next year and will grow at a rate of 1.4 percent. This will be attributed to the growth of the non-oil sector after the restrictions will be eased.
The Global Economic Prospects 2020 report by World Bank projected a 4.2 percent contraction for the wider Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region in 2020 and 2.3 percent growth the year later.
In its reports, the World Bank also predicts that the global economy will shrink by 5.2 percent this year due to the pandemic.