Dubai: The UAE plans to spend an additional Dh110 million on top of its 2011 budget, and to pass a new bankruptcy and public debt law before year's end, Minister of State for Financial Affairs Obaid Humaid Al Tayer told Dow Jones.
"We expect to spend an additional total of Dh110 million on enhancing the health sector," Al Tayer said.
In July, the federal government announced an increase of Dh540 million to the 2011 budget, including Dh100 million for the health sector.
"Since July we have added the additional Dh110 million in spending on the health sector, bringing the upped public spending to Dh650 million," he said.
He added that he expects the UAE's bankruptcy law to be issued "before the end of 2011, as the draft is ready".
Sovereign bonds
Asked about the public debt law, Al Tayer said he expects it to be passed soon, adding, "We can start issuing sovereign bonds 18 months after the law is passed."
His comments came after a meeting of 22 Arab nations in Abu Dhabi, where finance ministers shrugged off the threat to their economies from political upheaval and a global slowdown, saying ample cash reserves and mutual support would help them withstand new shocks.
The meeting of the 22 ministers follows the fall of Tripoli to forces opposing the rule of Muammar Gaddafi. Tunisia and Egypt's rulers were ousted earlier in the year and there is ongoing unrest in Yemen, Bahrain and Syria.
The outlook for the global economy has also worsened in recent weeks but they promised to help each other out.
"This is a clear expression of the intention and tendency of Arab countries to help their brothers," Al Tayer whose ministry hosted the meeting, told reporters. Egypt, where the economy was hurt by the popular uprising that ousted Hosni Mubarak earlier this year, is negotiating aid from other Arab countries.
Finance Minister Hazem Al Beblawi said that Egypt was close to striking a deal with the UAE, Saudi Arabia and the Arab Monetary Fund for several billion dollars in loans.
