IMF’s Christine Lagarde on first official visit to UAE

Christine Lagarde, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), is marking her first official visit to the UAE this week, and is scheduled to meet with key political and economic figures in the country.

During her visit, Lagarde will meet with senior political and economic figures in the UAE, including Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and UAE Minister of Finance; and Obaid Humaid Al Tayer, Minister of State for Financial Affairs.

On the sidelines of Lagarde’s visit, the UAE’s Ministry of Finance (MoF) has stressed that the UAE has attained a prestigious status in terms of its relations with international financial institutions, specifically with the IMF – the UAE joined as a member under the federal decree No. 40 for the year 1972.

Lagarde will also participate in the activities of the Arab Financial Forum organised by IMF.

The meeting will highlight the joint relations between the UAE and the Fund, and ways of developing them.

This is following the directives of the UAE’s leadership to consolidate the joint relations with various international financial institutions, strengthen the country’s position as a global hub for similar institutions, which will raise the UAE’s competitiveness level in fields of financial policies among various competitiveness reports across the world.

Commenting on this visit, Obaid Humaid Al Tayer, Minister of State for Financial Affairs, stressed the solid relations enjoyed by UAE and IMF, specifically in terms of enhancing the government financial policies adopted by the country, as well as raise the level of discussions carried out by both parties on Article IV of the Fund.

This confirms the Ministry’s commitment to expand the UAE’s network and enhance its relations with various countries across the world as well as international and regional financial institutions.

Al Tayer said: “The Ministry of Finance continues to consolidate the UAE’s position as a regional and international hub to support economic development and enhance financial policies that drive growth at the level of Arab countries. This is following the belief of the UAE wise leadership to promote employment opportunities and ensure high standards of welfare to the people. In fact, we will have discussions with Christine Lagarde on the latest financial and economic developments.”

In October 2015, the IMF showed in its report that the national economy is growing at a rate twice faster that the Eurozone. The Fund stated that the UAE witnessed a steady economic growth path with the help of the financial and monetary stability led by the Ministry, and its commitment to strengthen the country’s position in the region and across the world.

The report highlighted that, at a time where the world is witnessing a more than 60 per cent decline in oil prices, the MoF’s financial policies worked on providing an appropriate environment for the expansion of the productive base by increasing dependence on non-oil sectors.

The MoF’s policies have focused on reducing dependence on oil sectors by 30 per cent over the past decades.

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