Abu Dhabi to recommence spending
UAE capital plans five year, $90bn spending spree on education, housing and infrastructure
Abu Dhabi is set to recommence spending on housing, education and infrastructure, experts say.
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Abu Dhabi has announced a planned $90bn five-year spending spree on housing, schools, infrastructure and leisure projects, making the capital the latest Gulf monarchy to unveil big new spending since the ‘Arab spring’ uprisings.
The plan, unveiled this week, had been delayed. The fact that it is moving ahead is seen as a boost to business sentiment, which had been hit by a lengthy spending review.
A prominent Emirati businessman, who declined to be named, said the government appeared to be “back in the spending mood” – providing a major stimulus to an economy that was in the doldrums.
“There are many tenders coming out and many contracts being awarded, whether it is oil and gas or infrastructure,” said the businessman. “We see increasing demand for building materials,” he told Gulf News in an interview.
Abu Dhabi never faced a debt crisis – indeed it bailed out Dubai out for $20bn in 2009 – but analysts say its leaders decided to pull back temporarily to make sure money was going to projects that would forestall any stirring of the economic anger underpinning uprisings elsewhere in the region.
The $90bn spending plan is aimed at the citizens who are a small minority of the population, and has echoes of the $130bn investment programme launched in Saudi Arabia in 2011.
