Dubai: The UAE is committed to its current three-year budget and will not cut spending despite sustained prolonged global weak oil prices, Minister of Economy, Sultan Al Mansouri, told reporters in Dubai on Monday.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) last week urged the six Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) states, which includes the UAE, to slash spending and adjust their economics to lower oil revenues.
“We have a budget and that budget has been set for three years. We are committed to that for three years and we have no issue on that so for us, no,” Al Mansouri said when asked if the government should consider cutting spending.
Global oil prices collapsed last year, starting their fall in June from a high of around $115 a barrel for Brent crude, the international marker for crude oil, and reaching a low of $45 a barrel in January. Oil prices have since rebounded from the January low and on Monday, Brent was trading up 0.17 per cent, or $0.11, to $65.50 a barrel as of early afternoon local time.
The IMF warned last week that weak oil is expected to cost the GCC around $280 billion (Dh1 trillion) in lost revenues this year. The UAE pumps around 2.8 million barrels of oil per day (bpd). It has a target to pump 3.5 million bpd by 2017.
