UAE Central Bank projects 3.9% growth in 2024

The UAE’s economy grew 3.6 per cent in 2023, according to the Central Bank’s (CBUAE) annual report, which projects overall output growth to rebound to 3.9 per cent in 2024 on the back of a recovery in various economic sectors.

The country’s financial sector recorded robust performance last year, achieving 11.1 per cent growth in total assets to over AED 4 trillion. The banking system also maintained appropriate capitalisation, strong profitability and sufficient liquidity for the year.

The Central Bank added that it continued to promote Emiratisation across the financial sector, with a total of 2,720 Emiratis joining in 2023 against a target of 1,875.

It also marked significant progress against its 2023-2026 strategy in the areas of financial stability, monetary policy, banking, insurance and financial crime supervision, consumer protection and digitisation.

Testament to these efforts is the UAE banking system’s improvement across key bank soundness indicators, the results of which are based on the Central Bank's internal comparison methodology which leverages data from IMF Financial Soundness Indicators.

The CBUAE also continued its work to ensure the safety and soundness of the financial sector in 2023, carrying out 247 prudential examinations – up from 181 in 2022.

For the first time, climate-related risks formed part of the CBUAE’s work in enhancing the regulatory and supervisory framework for licensed financial institutions (LFIs).

In addition, its enhanced efforts in the area of financial crime supervision contributed to the completion of the action plan agreed with the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) and the UAE’s exit from FATF’s enhanced monitoring process.

As part of its Financial Infrastructure Transformation (FIT) programme, the CBUAE launched a series of innovative payment platforms in 2023. These include the establishment of an Instant Payments Platform, Aani, as well as the UAE’s first Domestic Card Scheme, Jaywan.

The full annual report can be accessed here.

The #CentralBankUAE today released its 2023 Annual Report which provides an analysis of financial and economic developments domestically, regionally and globally in addition to detailing the CBUAE’s actions, strategic developments and progress delivered during 2023.

To view the…

— Central Bank of the UAE (@centralbankuae) June 13, 2024