The United Arab Emirates economy is expected to grow 1.3 percent in 2009 and 3.2 percent in 2010, the country's economy minister said, despite fears that Dubai's debt woes have worsened prospects for an economic recovery. Inflation is expected to fall to 2 percent by the end of 2009 after declining to 2.5 percent in the first eight months of the year, the official WAM news agency said on Saturday, citing Sultan bin Saeed al-Mansouri.
In November, Mansouri said the UAE's economy would grow by up to 3 percent in 2010. The global economic downturn sent the top Gulf Arab economies - Saudi Arabia and the UAE - into a downturn this year but high state spending and a turnaround in oil prices are helping the world's top oil-producing region get back on its feet. Inflation, a major headache in the region in the year of an oil and property-fuelled boom, has dropped sharply in the world's third largest oil exporter. Last year, UAE inflation peaked at 12.3 percent.