UAE government expenses hit AED 2.6 trillion over 7 years

The UAE government combined expenses, in the period from 2016 to 2022, amounted to more than AED 2.634 trillion.

“The increase in expenses is due to the significant increase in government revenues in the past years,” UAE’s Ministry of Finance data showed.

“It was distributed between tax, which is considered the largest contributor to revenues, as well as social contributions, grants, and various other revenues, which contributed to recording a large financial surplus during 2022,” UAE’s Ministry of Finance said.

The revenues of the UAE government achieved a record high in its history during 2022, after jumping to AED 597 billion, compared to 2021, which recorded AED 463 billion, with a growth rate of 31.8 percent.

The significant increase in revenues contributed to achieving a fiscal surplus of AED 207 billion, compared to government expenditures of AED 390 billion in 2022.

According to the ministry’s data, expenses during 2022 amounted to about aed382.5 billion, compared to aed382.6 billion in 2021, and in 2020 government spending decreased by 7.8 percent at aed353 billion.

In 2019, government expenditures reached AED 383 billion, in 2018 it was one of the highest years at AED 388.2 billion, in 2017 about AED 359.5 billion, and in 2016 it reached AED 386.1 billion.

The UAE Cabinet approved, during this October, the general budget of the Union for the period “2024-2026”, with a total value of 192 billion dirhams.