The United Arab Emirates economy grew 7.4 percent in 2007 on the expansion of the manufacturing and construction sectors, as well as oil and gas, the Gulf state's ministry of economy said on Sunday.
Non-oil sectors accounted for 65 percent of the gross domestic product (GDP) of the second-largest Arab economy last year, the ministry said in a report, without giving a breakdown of GDP growth by sector. Real GDP growth last year came in just below the 7.8 percent growth forecast by twelve economists in a Reuters poll in December. The economy should expand by another 7.8 percent this year, the poll showed.
The UAE, the world's fifth-largest oil exporter, has been striving to diversify its economy away from a dependence on energy exports by pouring windfall oil revenues into real estate, financial services and infrastructure.