UAE Cabinet approves 2023-2026 federal budget, with total expenditure of Dhs252.3bn

The UAE Cabinet has approved the federal budget 2023-2026, with a total estimated expenditure of Dhs252.3bn and estimated revenue of Dhs255.7bn

The announcement was made following the UAE Cabinet meeting held at Qasr Al Watan Abu Dhabi, chaired by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.

Sheikh Mohammed said: “I chaired the Cabinet meeting at Qasr Al Watan in Abu Dhabi. We approved the federal budget 2023-2026 … The Federal Budget is a major driver of the government’s development ambitions and plans.”

ترأست اليوم اجتماع مجلس الوزراء بقصر الوطن بأبوظبي، اعتمدنا فيه الميزانية العامة للاتحاد 2023-2026 بإجمالي مصروفات 252.3 مليار درهم وإجمالي إيرادات 255.7 مليار درهم. ميزانية الاتحاد مستدامة ومتزنة وهي محرك رئيسي لحكومة الاتحاد ولطموحاتها التنموية لشعب الاتحاد pic.twitter.com/4Zv1eo1ut8

— HH Sheikh Mohammed (@HHShkMohd) October 10, 2022

A budget for the year 2023 has also been allocated, with total estimated expenses of Dhs63.066bn, and total estimated revenues of Dhs3.613bn. The country estimates that growth in revenues in the fiscal year 2023 will reach 11 per cent with a growth rate of 3.9 per cent in expenditures, official news agency WAM reported.

Social development and benefits represent the largest proportion of the UAE federal budget 2023 at 39.3 per cent, followed by government affairs with 38 per cent of the budget. The rest was distributed to the infrastructure and economic resources by 3.8 per cent and the financial assets and investments by 3.4 per cent. Other federal expenses amount to 15.5 per cent of the budget.

Dubai-based lender Emirates NBD revised its forecast for the UAE’s 2022 real GDP growth to 7 per cent from 5.7 per cent. Meanwhile, S&P’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for the UAE for August stood at 56.7 up from 55.4. 

Read: Two biggest Gulf economies boom and turn corner on inflation

The UAE Cabinet also reviewed the developments of the UAE Railway Programme, which will work to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 70-80 per cent over the next 50 years and support the country’s efforts to achieve carbon neutrality.

Sheikh Mohammed said: “We reviewed the UAE Railway Programme… the largest infrastructure project in the UAE, linking 11 cities, 7 logistics centres and 4 international ports in the country… Under the directives of President HH Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan and the follow-up of HH Sheikh Theyab bin Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Chairman of Etihad Rail, this project will change the infrastructure map in the country.”

The UAE Cabinet approved a number of decisions regarding the mechanisms adopted for implementing the unemployment insurance system. In addition, the meeting approved the UAE’s accession to the Gas Exporting Countries Forum (GECF), the High Ambition Coalition to End Plastic Pollution by 2040, and the Protocol Supplementary to the Convention for the Suppression of Unlawful Seizure of Aircraft issued in Beijing in 2010.

The cabinet also approved several international agreements with a number of friendly countries, including Kuwait, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria, Eswatini, and the Republic of the Congo.