UAE total trade volume up 42% in 2008 - Ministry

TRADE DEFICIT: Total trade for the UAE grew by 42 percent in 2008. (Getty Images)

UAE saw a trade balance deficit of nearly 53 percent in 2008 although both exports and imports grew at similar rates, a new Ministry of Foreign Trade report shows.

The total volume of UAE foreign trade increased by 42.5 percent in 2008, compared to the previous year as a result of a 35.2 percent increase in exports (non-oil exports and re-exports) and a 45.5 percent increase in imports, the report added.

Imports accounted for 72 percent of the trade exchange volume, the study, cited in a report by news agency WAM, said.

The top 10 trading partners contributed 70.7 percent to the UAE's total non-oil export volume last year, with India ranked first in UAE exports with a total of $4.9bn.

Seven Arab countries occupied the top 10, five of which were GCC countries, the report added.

Kuwait was the only country among the top 10 that recorded a decline in its UAE export growth in 2008 while Egypt, Bahrain and Oman moved up into the top 10 list last year, replacing Pakistan, China and the US.

Last week, Hamad Buamim, director general, Dubai Chamber of Commerce & Industry said a recent rebound in export trends for Dubai - which dropped drastically in November 2008 and continued to decline to May - was a sign that the UAE economy was looking up.

Monthly exports of Dubai Chamber members grew to a peak of almost AED25 billion in October 2008 but slumped in the following seven months, he added, before the latest recovery to above AED15bn a month.

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