Abu Dhabi: The capital's economy in recent years has made major steps to diversify its economy away from oil revenues into petrochemicals, steel and aluminium. The multi-billion dirham projects are in line with Abu Dhabi's Economic Vision 2030 that aims for sustainable growth on a solid economic basis.
According to Abu Dhabi's Urban Planning Council some $200 billion (Dh734 billion) will have been pumped by 2013 into various infrastructure projects.
"The idea behind Abu Dhabi's economic diversification is that if oil prices go down, there will be other sources of income to compensate [for the loss in oil revenue]," Mohammad Amerah, an Abu Dhabi-based economist, told Gulf News.
However, oil revenues are still an important source of revenue for the emirate, contributing 49 per cent to the GDP. Experts say that Abu Dhabi's economic growth momentum will gain traction in 2011 from surging international oil prices and fast-improving global business confidence which will help boost the emirate's non-oil income as well.
Abu Dhabi also has identified aviation and high-end business and leisure tourism as key elements in its economic growth strategy and is judiciously investing income from oil exports to become a major regional aviation hub.
