The Central Bank revealed that the total oil exports to the state amounted to 211 billion dirhams last year, compared to 247 billion dirhams in the year 2018, a decrease of 14.7%.
The CBE stated in a report that, in 2019, exports of hydrocarbons decreased by 36.2 billion dirhams, compared to 2018, mainly due to lower prices of crude oil and other products.
Meanwhile, non-hydrocarbon exports increased last year to 415 billion dirhams, compared to 410.6 billion dirhams in 2018.
The report added that last year witnessed a slowdown in the growth of non-hydrocarbon exports, mainly due to the slowdown in global economic growth, including the main countries to which exports are from the UAE, which reduced the demand for UAE exports of non-hydrocarbons.
On the other hand, the trade in re-exports of imported goods increased slightly in 2019 by 2.5%, or 12.9 billion dirhams.
The CBE added in its report that, according to estimates, the current account surplus decreased from 148.7 billion dirhams (9.8% of GDP) in 2018 to 108.9 billion dirhams last year (7.4% of GDP).
This decline in the current account surplus in 2019 is due to the decrease in the trade balance (a decrease of 40 billion dirhams), which is linked mainly to the development of oil prices, as it decreased from an average of $ 73 per barrel in 2018 to an average of $ 64.6 per barrel in 2019.
The financial account deficit narrowed significantly in the year 2019 by 53.4 billion dirhams compared to 2018, when it reached 73.5 billion dirhams, or 5% of GDP.
This is mainly due to the increase in bank investments abroad by 50.1 billion dirhams. In addition, external financial flows from the non-banking private sector and public sector institutions increased by 5.8 billion dirhams and 0.3 billion dirhams, respectively.
On the other hand, an increase of three billion dirhams in foreign direct investment (abroad) was recorded in 2019, and in return, an increase in foreign direct investment (inward) by 12.5 billion dirhams, which led to a decrease in net foreign direct investment by 9.5 billion AED.
The decline in the current account surplus as well as the smaller deficit in the financial account resulted in a greater surplus in the total balance of payments that was recorded at 35.4 billion dirhams last year (2.4% of the estimated GDP), as the net foreign assets of the central bank increased, including This is the reserve position of the International Monetary Fund by 35.8 billion dirhams.
Net investment income recorded a flow of 7.6 billion dirhams in 2019, compared to 5.2 billion dirhams in 2018.