ABU DHABI, 20 July 2005 — The United Arab Emirates (UAE) economy grew 7.4 percent to top $88 billion in 2004 on the back of high crude prices and a strong performance by the non-oil sector, the local press reported yesterday.
Gross domestic product reached 323.6 billion dirhams ($88.17 billion) in 2004 from 301.3 billion dirhams ($82.09 billion) in 2003, the Gulf News daily quoted a central bank report as saying.
The non-oil sector accounted for 71.7 percent of GDP, “signifying that the diversification of the economy is on the right track,” it said.
The oil sector contribution increased by 2.9 percent to 93.63 billion dirhams ($25.5 billion), benefiting from surging world crude prices.
Per capita income increased from 74,600 dirhams ($20,326) in 2003 to 74,900 dirhams ($20,408) in 2004, the bank said.
Meanwhile, the population of the UAE has increased “substantially” to 4.32 million, it added, without specifying the percentage of foreign expatriates, who represent the majority of the inhabitants of the rich federation.