UAE maintains rank as largest Arab market

The UAE maintained its position as the largest Arab market with imports exceeding $256 billion in 2011 while it was second only to Saudi Arabia in exports.

Given its massive crude sales, Saudi Arabia dominated the Middle East in terms of exports although it was second to the UAE in imports.

Figures by the Kuwaiti-based Inter-Arab Investment Guarantee Corporation (IAIGC) showed imports of goods and services by the UAE stood at around $256.4 billion in 2011, by far the largest in the Middle East. The UAE even surpassed Turkey for the first time as imports by that country stood at $254 billion in 2011.

IAIGC gave no data for 2012 but analysts believe the UAE maintained its status as the largest importer following an increase in its trade to an all time high last year.

According to official UAE figures, imports and exports of goods by the country surged to an all time high of Dh1.4 trillion in 2012 and could swell further to Dh1.65 trillion in 2013.

IAIGC’s figures showed imports by Saudi Arabia stood at $198 billion in 2011 while they were estimated at $60 billion by Egypt, $56.6 billion by Algeria, $49.5 billion by Morocco, $39 billion by Kuwait, $30.6 billion by Libya, $28.5 billion by Oman, $25.9 billion by Tunisia and $20.6 billion by Jordan. The report gave no data for Qatar and Iraq, among the largest Arab economies.

Exports and imports by the UAE, the second largest Arab economy, totalled around $287.8 billion in 2011 while those by Saudi Arabia stood at $376 billion.

Saudi Arabia has always dominated the export scene in the Arab world given its high oil production, now at more than nine million barrels per day.

It had also been the dominant market in the region before it was overtaken by the UAE over the past few years as the largest importer in the 21-nation Arab League.

A recent UN report showed the UAE was ranked 25th largest global importer of goods and 19th exporter in the world last year, becoming the only Arab nation to be among the top 30 markets. The report by the World Trade Organization showed the UAE accounted for nearly 1.1 per cent of the world’s total imports of goods of around $15.37 trillion and 1.5 per cent of the global exports of $15.23 trillion.

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