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IMF's lower growth estimate for UAE "not right": expert

Xinhua, May 16, 2015 Adjust font size:

A senior economist of the UAE's biggest bank Emirates NBD said Saturday that the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) move to downgrade the expected gross domestic product (GDP) growth for the Gulf state was not right.

The IMF's downward adjustments might be obsolete as the economy of the UAE, a major oil supplier, has reached a turning point due to the drop in oil prices, Tim Fox said in a commentary for the UAE daily The National.

The IMF downgraded its estimate for the UAE's GDP for this year and for 2016 down to 3.2 percent from 4.5 percent and 4.4 percent respectively.

This downgrade, Fox said, occurred when oil prices were already heading higher.

Oil prices fell by 50 percent between June last year to February this year, but have regained 40 percent since it hit its 2015-low at 42 U.S. dollars per barrel, trading last Friday at 59.88 U.S. dollar per barrel.

According to the UAE minister of economy and foreign trade, the oil industry stands for 29 percent of the the country's whole economy. Endit