UAE to Double National Economy to $816 Billion by 2030

The UAE aims through economic agreements to remove or reduce customs duties with a carefully selected group of markets. (WAM)
The UAE aims through economic agreements to remove or reduce customs duties with a carefully selected group of markets. (WAM)
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UAE to Double National Economy to $816 Billion by 2030

The UAE aims through economic agreements to remove or reduce customs duties with a carefully selected group of markets. (WAM)
The UAE aims through economic agreements to remove or reduce customs duties with a carefully selected group of markets. (WAM)

The Ministry of Economy has announced that the UAE will soon sign comprehensive economic partnership agreements (CEPA) with several countries.

It will also sign trade preference agreements with the member countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation in early 2023.

The ministry said that the new partnership agreements aim to enhance the role of international trade to double the size of the national economy by 2030.

The UAE development plans for the next 50 years are largely focused on trade.

By 2030, the country aims to double the size of its economy from 1.4 trillion dirhams ($381 billion) to 3 trillion dirhams ($816 billion) through greater trade openness.

Jumaa Muhammad Al Kait, Assistant Undersecretary for International Trade Affairs, said that the countries currently negotiating to conclude CEPA are: Indonesia, Colombia, and Turkey, in addition to several countries with which the initial terms of agreement are being agreed upon.

The UAE is signing CEPA agreements with the aim of removing or reducing customs duties bilaterally with carefully selected markets of strategic importance regionally and globally.

Abdullah Al Saleh, Under-Secretary of the Ministry of Economy, pointed out that the trade preference system is the selection of a group of targeted goods, according to which the state obtains the advantage of reducing customs tariffs while exporting its national products to the markets of those countries.

He explained that the most important feature of this new system is to grant the UAE customs discounts on a wide and selected range of goods.



Lebanon Bonds Rally to Fresh Two-year High on Ceasefire Hopes

A man counts Lebanese pounds at a currency exchange shop in Beirut, Lebanon October 1, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
A man counts Lebanese pounds at a currency exchange shop in Beirut, Lebanon October 1, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
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Lebanon Bonds Rally to Fresh Two-year High on Ceasefire Hopes

A man counts Lebanese pounds at a currency exchange shop in Beirut, Lebanon October 1, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
A man counts Lebanese pounds at a currency exchange shop in Beirut, Lebanon October 1, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir

Lebanon's deeply distressed sovereign dollar bonds hit a fresh two-year high on Tuesday as investors bet that a potential ceasefire with Israel could improve the country's prospects.

The bonds, which are still trading below 10 cents on the dollar, have gained more than 3% this week. The 2031 maturity was biding at 9.3 cents on the dollar, its highest since May 2022, according to Reuters.

"Some investors are mulling if it is a right time to buy, since a ceasefire is the first step needed to at some point in time restructure bonds," said Bruno Gennari, emerging markets strategist with KNG Securities International.

Israel's cabinet is expected to convene on Tuesday to discuss, and likely approve, a US plan for a ceasefire with the Iran-backed Hezbollah, a senior Israeli official said.

Israeli airstrikes, which continued on Tuesday, have decimated Lebanon's infrastructure and killed thousands.

But the counterintuitive rally, the second since Israel began bombing the country in September, was driven by bets that the deal could jolt Lebanon's fractured political system and revive efforts to pull the country out of default.