UAE International Reserves (months of imports)

International Reserves in UAE

While likely remaining positive, annual GDP growth will likely have waned in the year so far. In Q1, crude production expanded 3.0% year on year, the softest increase since Q2 2021. Moreover, in April, crude production growth slowed further to 0.4% yoy, and in May, the UAE cut output by 144,000 barrels per day, thus further dimming the oil sector’s performance. As a result, the non-oil sector should have remained the engine of growth. The private-sector PMI was comfortably in expansionary territory in Q1, despite cooling somewhat from Q4’s average. In April, the PMI revealed business conditions improved at the strongest rate in six months as demand conditions improved and employment rose robustly. In geopolitics, in late May, Iran claimed sovereignty on three Persian Gulf islands disputed with the UAE, stoking regional tensions.