UAE: Abu Dhabi

Despite the adverse effects of a low oil price environment over recent years, Abu Dhabi’s banking sector has remained well capitalised...

Abu Dhabi has leveraged its hydrocarbons wealth to pursue a sovereign investment strategy that spans the globe, establishing itself as one of the largest overseas investors in the world. To strengthen the exchange of capital and ideas, the government has worked to create free zones to capture foreign direct investment, benefitting the emirate’s economic diversification strategy. Abu Dhabi’s...

Lower oil prices and a rigorous process of fiscal reform have led to a challenging economic backdrop for Abu Dhabi’s residents and businesses in recent years....

Having declared its independence from the UK in 1971 as part of the federation of the UAE, the emirate of Abu Dhabi has significantly raised its political and economic profile in the intervening years, both regionally and internationally. While the emirate is home to the world’s sixth-largest proven oil reserves, financial buffers have helped it diversify and yield steady non-oil revenue....

With major port, airport, road network and railway projects under way, Abu Dhabi’s transportation sector has become a major focus of investment in recent years. International investors and developers are playing a central role in infrastructure planning, construction and management, which is seen as a strategic priority driving the emirate’s economic growth and diversification initiatives....

The UAE continues to spend heavily on its military capabilities, while at the same time pushing to expand its domestic defence-related manufacturing industries, as a means both to better protect its own national security and to contribute to diversifying its economy away from oil and gas. Significant agreements point to the long-term success of the goal of developing a domestic industry, even...