Foreign trade of Abu Dhabi Emirate constitutes 65.5% of its GDP

ABU DHABI, 26th March, 2015 (WAM) -- The foreign trade of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi constitutes about 65.4% of the GDP of the Emirate, i.e. Dh953.24 billion, according to preliminary estimates of the year 2013, where the value increased to Dh623.16 billion, a growth rate of 3.75% compared to 2012. The economic report of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi 2014, issued by the Studies Division in the Department of Economic Development in Abu Dhabi, highlighted the continued commodity exchange between the Emirate of Abu Dhabi and other countries across the world in its various forms (import, export and re-export) as one of the main pillars of economic development of the emirate, leading to improving the standard of living and economic well-being of the emirate through providing goods, capital equipment and production requirements by importing, marketing and selling its products through export. The report stated that the figures and statistics highlight the distinguished status of the foreign trade in Abu Dhabi's economy which enhances the process of economic development, noting that the value of commodity exports of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi (including oil exports) amounted to about Dh522.9 billion during 2013, which reflects an increase by 8.57% compared to 2012. 93.8% of this value, i.e. Dh490.46 billion, resulted from oil exports that have increased by 8.6% compared to 2012. The report noted that the non-oil exports of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, amounting to Dh16 billion in 2013, reflecting an increase of 3.8% compared to 2012, noting that the non-oil exports increased by 34.3% between 2011 and 2012. Re-exports have increased by 11.6% compared to 2012 and amounted to Dh16.45 billion. The report pointed to a decrease of 15.7% in the imports of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, which amounted to Dh100.25 billion in 2013 compared to Dh118.97 billion in 2012. 44% of the imports of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, amounting to Dh44.5 billion, is machinery and transport equipment (according to the Standard International Trade Classification); 24.5% of the same, amounting to Dh24.6 billion, are manufactured goods classified by material and 9.5%, amounting to Dh9.5 billion, are chemical products. Food and live animals imports amounted to Dh7.7 billion, while inedible raw materials imports amounted to Dh7.5 billion. Inedible, except fuels, up to Dh7.5 billion and manufactured imports amounted to Dh4.2 billion. The report highlights the continued high rates of exports over imports in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi during the period (2008-2013), noting that the highest rate of exports over imports was in 2013, with a very high rate exceeding 521%. The main reason behind this very high rate is the increase of oil exports over imports with a rate of 489% in 2013, in addition to an improvement in the non-oil exports (with re-export) over imports, with a rate of 32.4% in 2013 compared to a rate of 25.4% in 2012. The report noted that the trade balance of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi recorded a high surplus in 2013, amounting to Dh422.6 billion compared to Dh362.6 billion in 2012, i.e. an increase of 16.5%. This increase comes due to the high percentage of oil exports in foreign trade, and the relatively stable prices of oil in the world market during 2013. As for strategic partners, the report stated that for the third consecutive year no change occurred in the first and second places on the list of trading partners of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi in the field of commodity non-oil trade, which reflects the stability of the economic and trade relations of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi with its partners. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, ranking in first place with a total trade of Dh21.7 billion in the year 2013, i.e. about 16.4% of the total non-oil trade of the emirate, reflected an increase in the relative importance of its share compared to 12.37% of the total non-oil trade of the Emirate in 2012. The United States has maintained its second place position, with an amount of Dh13.2 billion, approximately 9.95% of the total non-oil trade of the Emirate, which reflects no significant change in the relative importance of its share, compared with 9.71% of non-oil trade of the Emirate in 2012. The absence of South Korea from the list of top 10 trading partners of the emirate in 2013 was noteworthy after it was ranked third during 2012 and 2011. It was replaced in third place by Japan, with a total trade amounting to Dh8.32 billion after it was ranked fifth in 2012. Germany has maintained its fourth place with a total commodity trade of Dh8.09 billion in 2013 and China was ranked fifth with Dh6.43 billion. Regarding trading partners of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi in exports, a continuous change in the states in the top ranking positions has been noted in recent years. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, which ranked second in 2012, became first in 2013 with non-oil exports amounting to Dh6.67 billion, i.e. a very high rate of acquisition reaching 41.7% of the total non-oil exports of Abu Dhabi. China, who ranked first in 2012, became second in 2013 with non-oil exports amounting to Dh2.19 billion, i.e. 13.7% of the total non-oil exports of Abu Dhabi, compared to Dh4.05 billion in 2012, i.e. 26.3% of the total non-oil exports of Abu Dhabi. India has continued its progress and ranked third with a rate of 6.3% of the total non-oil exports of Abu Dhabi after it was ranked fourth in 2012 and fifth in 2011. With regard to the trading partners in the field of re-exports, the top four states have maintained their positions during the last three years, with the Kingdom of Bahrain ranking first with a rate of 20.6% of the total re-exports of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, reflecting a decrease from 26.3% in 2012 and 29.6% in 2011. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia maintained its position in second place with a rate of 20.3% of the total exports, representing an increase from 17.4% in 2012 and 13.8% in 2011. Qatar maintained third place, with a rate of 15.3% in 2013, and Kuwait maintained its fourth place with 13.1% of the re-exports. As for non-GCC countries, Singapore ranked fifth after it increased its share by 3.4% of the re-exports compared to 2012, while Jordan's rate has decreased by 2.9% in 2013 compared to 2012. The United States maintains its top position of trading partners in the field of imports for the fourth consecutive year, with imports amounting to Dh12.71 billion in 2013, i.e. 12.7% of the total imports of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, representing a decrease in the value amounting to Dh14.34 billion in 2012. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is in second place with a rate of 11.7% of the total imports of the emirate after it was ranked third in 2012 with 10.1%. Saudi Arabia has replaced South Korea, which became tenth. Japan was ranked third with 8.3% of the total imports of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and Germany maintained fourth place in 2013 with a rate of 7.6% of the total imports. The report addressed the foreign investments of The Emirate of Abu Dhabi, and explained that the development of the investment environment in the emirate and the enhancement of the attractiveness of investment opportunities have led to the growth of foreign direct investments in Abu Dhabi, therefore the FDI has increased from Dh52.23 billion at the end of 2011 to Dh60.9 billion in 2012. The high growth rate confirms the predictions in the Economic Report of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi 2013, issued by the Department of Economic Development, which expected the continuous increase in the volume of foreign investments in the emirate during the coming years. The report was based on the efforts of the concerned governmental entities to develop and promote the investment environment in the emirate, according to the emirate’s Economic Vision 2030. The report pointed out that the main exporting countries for foreign investments to the Emirate of Abu Dhabi remained in the top ten places in 2012 compared with 2011 (and the same applies to the year 2010) with the exception of the United States of America which ranked eighth in 2011 but was out of the top ten in 2012 having been replaced by South Korea who ranked tenth in 2012 with a value of direct investments amounting to Dh1.02 billion. Apart from these minor changes, Australia remained in first place in the list of countries investing in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, with the value of investments amounting to Dh8.23 billion by the end of 2012, i.e. 14% of the total foreign direct investments in the emirate compared to Dh6.16 billion by the end of 2011, i.e. 11.8% of the total foreign direct investments, noting that it ranked second by the end of 2010 with 10% of the total foreign direct investments. France stepped up into second place by the end of 2012, with investment flows amounting to Dh5.89 billion, i.e. 9.7% of the total investments, after it was ranked third during 2011 and 2010, with a value of investments in Abu Dhabi amounting to Dh4.32 billion at the end of 2011, representing 8.3% of the total investments. Japan has moved to third place with a value of investments amounting to Dh2.74 billion at the end of 2012, after it ranked fourth in 2011 with a value amounting to Dh2.89 billion. It is noted that despite its improvement in terms of rank, the value of its investments has slightly decreased in 2012 compared to 2011. After it was ranked fifth in 2011, the Netherlands ranked fourth by the end of 2012 with a value of investments amounting to Dh2.41 billion, i.e. 4% of the total foreign direct investments in the Emirate. Libya meanwhile moved from sixth place to fifth. For investments in economic activities, the report explained that real estate activities still constituted the highest percentage of foreign direct investments in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi in 2012, where the volume of investments amounted to Dh23.36 billion, representing 38.4% of the total foreign direct investments in the Emirate during the same year, compared to Dh20.2 billion at the end of 2011, representing 38.7% of the total foreign direct investments. The rate of growth of the value of investments in real estate activities reached 15.5% in 2012. The manufacturing industry sector has maintained second place by the end of 2012, with investments amounting to Dh11.55 billion, representing 19% of the total direct investments in the emirate during the same year. Foreign investments in this sector reached Dh9.18 billion by the end of 2011, representing 17.6% of the total direct investments in the emirate during the same year. Finally, the water and electricity sector maintained its third place at the end of 2012, as the value of investments in this sector amounted to Dh6.74 billion, i.e. 11.1% of the total direct investments of the emirate, compared with 12.3% of the total foreign direct investments in 2011, which reflects a decline in the relative importance of the sector, despite the absolute increase in the volume of investments in 2012 compared to 2011. – Emirates News Agency, WAM – http://www.wam.ae/en/news/economics/1395278427373.html