| Dubai unveils budget with $9.3b spending |
DUBAI Dubai’s government unveiled its budget for 2013 on Monday, setting expenditure at 34.12 billion dirhams ($9.3 billion) and a deficit at 0.5 per cent of gross domestic product.
Expenditure was forecast only slightly up from 33.68 billion dirhams in this year’s budget, while revenues were expected to amount to 32.62 billion dirhams, up from 29.91 billion dirhams in 2012, it said in a statement.
The budget forecast the deficit to drop to 1.48 billion dirhams, compared with 3.778 billion dirhams predicted for this year.
The Dubai government said the focus of the budget was “on a prudent fiscal policy that provides the stimuli necessary to economic growth”.
The debt-laden Gulf emirate allocated six per cent of spending to debt servicing, while 26 per cent would be channelled into health, education, housing and social developments.
Sixteen per cent of expenditure has been set aside for the completion of infrastructure and development projects.
Abdul Rahman Al Saleh, the finance department director general, said the budget emphasised a preference to expand expenditure to support the economy but “without sacrificing the strategic objectives... of reducing the deficit”. Government fees would represent 62 per cent of revenues, while customs and taxes on foreign banks would account for 23 per cent.
Agencies
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