Dubai's economy grew 3.4 percent in real terms in 2011, helped by strong trade flows and rising tourist numbers, the emirate's statistics office said on Tuesday. An emirate in the United Arab Emirates, which have been recovering from the 2009-2010 debt crisis, Dubai saw its foreign trade jump by 22 percent in 2011, driven by strong flows with Asia, while passenger traffic at its main airport rose 8 percent to nearly 51 million.
This year the number of passengers surged 14 percent to 18.8 million in January-April from the same period a year ago. Cargo volumes have been rising in low single digits and the emirate, which makes up nearly a third of the UAE's GDP, is aiming for economic growth of 4.5 percent this year.
Last year Dubai's gross domestic product rose to an estimated 306.2 billion dirhams ($83.4 billion) from a revised 296.1 billion in 2010, the head of the statistics office said in a statement. The growth rate was in line with expectations. The office had originally reported a growth rate of 2.8 percent in 2010 with GDP in constant prices at 293.6 billion dirhams. Wholesale, retail trade and repair services, which account for around a third of Dubai's GDP, provided the biggest growth impetus to the economy last year, rising by 5.8 percent, Arif Obaid al-Muhairi, Executive Director at Dubai Statistics Center said in the statement posted on the statistics office's website.