Home Industry Economy UAE and Oman to be ‘fastest growing economies in GCC’ – report A report by the IIF predicts real GDP growth of 3.1 per cent for both countries in 2019 by Staff Writer January 10, 2019 The UAE and Oman will be the Gulf region’s fastest growing economies in 2019, according to a new report by the Institute of International Finance (IIF). The report, released on Wednesday, projected the UAE’s real GDP to grow 3.1 per cent this year, up from the 2.9 per cent estimated for 2018. Oman’s growth has also been predicted to reach 3.1 per cent, while Bahrain’s real GDP is expected to grow 2.4 per cent, Saudi Arabia’s 2 per cent, and Kuwait’s 0.4 per cent. Despite the UAE’s predicted growth over last year, IIF analysts suggested growth would slow to 2.7 per cent in 2020. They added that they expect the country’s nominal GDP to increase from Dhs1.59 trillion ($434bn) in 2018 to Dhs1.63 trillion ($458bn) in 2020. In October, the International Monetary Fund forecast 3.7 per cent growth for the UAE in 2019, and earlier this week the Wold Bank predicted growth of 3 per cent in 2019, followed by 3.2 per cent in 2020 and 2021 – up from the 2 per cent it estimated for 2018. Read UAE’s real GDP ‘to grow 3.7% in 2019 In November the governor of the UAE Central Bank, Mubarak Rashed Al Mansoori, said he expects the country’s GDP to grow by 4.2 per cent in 2019 on the back of stronger than expected growth in 2018. “Things are starting to materialise, growth is there, liquidity is there, a lot of government initiatives are there. I think we are in good times,” he said at a conference in Abu Dhabi. Read UAE Central Bank governor expects 4.2% GDP growth next year 0 Comments