Contribution of oil in Abu Dhabi’s GDP shrinks to 56.1% for 2012

Abu Dhabi: The share of oil and natural gas in Abu Dhabi’s gross domestic product (GDP) fell to 56.1 per cent last year, from 58.1 per cent in 2011, according to the electronic version of the “Statistical Yearbook of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi-2013”, which got released yesterday.

According to Statistics Centre Abu Dhabi (SCAD), the emirate’s annual production of crude oil in 2012 was 948,200,000 barrels, an increase of 3.8 per cent compared with 2011, while the annual production of natural gas rose by 21.1 per cent on year to 2,791,815 million cubic feet in 2012.

SCAD said Abu Dhabi’s gross domestic product (GDP) at current prices in 2012 rose 7.7 per cent year on year to Dh911.16 billion, confirming the strength and resilience of the emirate’s economy.

“Abu Dhabi is an oil-led economy and I expect it to stay that way. Much of the increase we are seeing in non-oil output is a result of increases in oil-funded public spending,” HSBC economist Simon Williams told Gulf News by telephone, commenting on the figures released by SCAD.

“GDP in constant prices increased by 5.6 per cent in 2012, compared with a growth of 9.3 per cent in 2011,” said SCAD, adding the main activities contributing to economic growth in 2012 were “mining and quarrying” (including crude oil and natural gas), “manufacturing” and “real estate”, which recorded year-on-year growth rates of 3.8 per cent, 9.7 per cent and 16.7 per cent, respectively.

SCAD said the volume of the merchandise of Abu Dhabi was worth 39.8 per cent of the emirate’s GDP in 2012, “reflecting the emirate’s robust and highly developed level of commercial activity and the significance of foreign trade to the economy in general.”

Top importer

Commodity imports through the ports of the Abu Dhabi totalled Dh119.0 billion in 2012 compared with Dh116.4 billion in 2011.

The US was Abu Dhabi’s top import partner, supplying the emirate with goods worth Dh14.3 billion. Non-oil exports were valued at Dh15.4 billion for last year. SCAD said the consumer inflation grew to 1.1 per cent as a result of a rise in the CPI from 121.6 points in 2011 to 122.9 points in 2012.

It said government financial statistics indicated an increase of 11.9 per cent in Abu Dhabi government revenues in 2012, compared with 2011.

“The increase is mainly attributed to petroleum royalties and tax revenues, capital revenues, department collections revenues and petroleum revenues.”

Manufacturing accounted for 5.9 per cent of GDP and 13.4 per cent of non-oil GDP in 2012, SCAD noted. Electricity production increased by 8.7 per cent in 2012, compared with 2011, to 50,381 GW/ h.