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Ongoing oil price slump weighs on UAE economic growth

Xinhua, July 19, 2016 Adjust font size:

Banks in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), the second largest financial market in the Gulf Arab region after Saudi Arabia, reported mixed results for the first six months in 2016, due to the ongoing headwinds in the oil market.

The UAE's biggest bank Emirates NBD said on Monday it generated a 12 percent increase in net profit in the first six months of 2016, amounting to 3.7 billion dirhams (1 billion U.S. dollars).

The bank will invest 500 million dirhams (136.23 million U.S. dollars) in digital innovation over the next three years as it looks to launch the UAE's first digital bank, according to Shayne Nelson, Emirates NBD's chief executive officer.

However, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank reported a 15 percent profit slide for the same period, amounting to 2.15 billion dirhams (585.21 million U.S. dollars).

The ongoing slump in the price of oil will continue to weigh on economic growth in the UAE, said the International Monetary Fund in April, slashing the expected GDP growth for 2016 to 2.4 percent, down from 3.9 percent in 2015.

United Arab Bank (UAB), based in the UAE's capital Abu Dhabi, said its net income in the first six months reaches 71 million dirhams (19.34 million U.S. dollars), compared to a net loss of 511 million dirhams (139.23 million U.S. dollars) in the second half of 2015. Endit