Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum signed the Public Budget Law for the year 2019, with an expenditure of $15.4 billion.
The budget comes as part of Dubai's commitment to the continued development of the economy, infrastructure and transportation sector has had the biggest impact on UAE's global position, with 40 percent of total spending, according to Emirates News Agency (WAM).
This demonstrates the emirate’s keenness to deal with future commitments, support entrepreneurship and create an apt environment for microenterprises.
For the fiscal year of 2019, the government maintained a budget equal to the 2018 budget, which was the largest budget in the history of the emirate, despite the economic incentive initiatives undertaken by the government during the fiscal year 2018, reported WAM.
The initiatives involve the reduction of a number of fees to stimulate economic development in various sectors in the emirate, and they are planned to be offered until 2021.
Despite the completion of some infrastructure projects related to Expo 2020 Dubai, the 2019 budget has dedicated $2.5 billion for infrastructure projects, which caters to the need to develop and upgrade the infrastructure of Dubai and make it one of the most preferred destinations for business and entrepreneurship in the world in line with the leadership’s directives.
Director General of the Government of Dubai's Department of Finance (DoF), Abdulrahman Al Saleh announced Dubai is committed to the continued development of its budget performance over the next few years to ensure financial sustainability and encourage entrepreneurship in the emirate through economic incentives that will contribute to attracting more investments.
"The Government of Dubai will continue to improve its competitive edge and achieve the targets of Dubai Plan 2021, and work to amaze the world with the best Expo ever in history."
Al Saleh further explained that the government has been able to achieve an operating surplus of $231.3 million by adopting disciplined financial policies.
Executive Director, Planning and Budgeting Sector at DoF, Arif Ahli, asserted that the ministry is constantly seeking to develop and review the public budget.
The 2019 budget continues to meet the requirements of Dubai Plan 2021 and makes a transparent statement on the stable financial position of the Emirate through the implementation of disciplined fiscal policies based on international best practices, indicated Ahli.
“The 2019 budget also continues to support new initiatives within different sectors, in order to strengthen the overall economy of Dubai, in light of the broad support for initiatives and projects.”
Public revenues are expected to reach $13.8 billion, an increase of 1.2 percent year-on-year. This increase comes despite the economic incentive measures taken by the emirate's government, which features reduction of some fees, a freeze in fee increases for three years, and a decision to not impose any new fee without providing a new service.
The revenues are based on ongoing operations in the emirate and do not rely on oil revenues, which account only for eight percent of total projected revenues for the fiscal year 2019. Non-tax revenues account for 64 percent of total expected revenue. Tax revenues account for 25 percent while revenues from government investment represent three percent.
