Oil contributes 49% to Abu Dhabi's GDP

Abu Dhabi: The contribution of oil to the gross domestic product (GDP) of Abu Dhabi in 2009 was 49 per cent, the Director-General of Statistics Centre-Abu Dhabi (SCAD), Butti Mohammad Bin Butti Al Qubaisi, said yesterday.

"It is the first time the emirate has managed to reduce the contribution of oil to this record low ratio.

"This result confirms that the emirate's programmes to expand the economic base and diversify the sources of income are progressing successfully," said Al Qubaisi at the release of the Statistical Yearbook of Abu Dhabi 2010.

He said the global financial crisis had some favourable implications for Abu Dhabi's economy.

Citing an example, Al Qubaisi said inflation in the emirate retreated from 14.9 per cent in 2008 to less than 1 per cent last year.

Robust performance

Dr Peter Crossman, Assistant Director General for Technical Affairs at SCAD said the contribution of oil to Abu Dhabi's GDP fell last year due to the robust performance of other contributers to its GDP, mainly the services industry and the manufacturing sector.

He said there are no estimates for Abu Dhabi's real GDP.

The SCAD yearbook observed that 2009 was a tough period for economies across the world, owing to the impact of the global financial crisis.

It said the 2009 GDP at current prices stood at Dh546.5 billion, while fixed capital formation grew to Dh79.84 billion, up from Dh72.673 billion in 2008. Abu Dhabi's average per capita GDP in 2009 was Dh332,500, one of the highest worldwide, the data showed.

In 2009, Abu Dhabi's oil reserves stood at 92.2 billion barrels and its total natural gas reserves were estimated at 212 trillion cubic feet.

Electric power generation grew 14 per cent on year to 39,189 gigawatt hours (GWh). The value of commodities imported by Abu Dhabi amounted to Dh93.9 billion, while non-oil exports totalled Dh9.5 billion. Re-exports in 2009 totalled Dh8.7 billion.