Economic Growth and Trade in the United Arab Emirates

• Are there limits to the historic growth model?
• What are domestic developments and external constraints that may now require an adaptation of the country’s development strategy?
• What new opportunities can we identify, and how can the UAE seize them?

The joint project between the Growth Lab and the UAE Ministry of Economy aims to contribute to this reflection through a multi-pronged approach based on data analysis, a diagnostics mindset, its proprietary economic complexity paradigm, and other evidence-based policy zooms.

Key objectives of the collaboration include:

• Uncovering current and future constraints to strong and sustainable economic growth in the UAE and its seven Emirates, and suggest concrete policy options to proactively address them.
• Identify strategic sectors and activities with high potential to drive the country’s future economic diversification and high-productivity growth.
• Provide analytical support to the UAE’s active trade policy and trade negotiations.
• More generally, conduct research that can help the MoE and other key policy-making entities formulate and implement policies to spark sustainable and inclusive growth, promote export diversification, and attract investments.
•  Transfer knowledge, especially by building capacity at the MoE and in other government entities to conduct novel, data-driven economic analyses that can inform policy.