UAE current account surplus estimated to fall by 27.8pc in 2007

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ABU DHABI, Aug 23 (Xinhua): The current account of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is predicted to dwindle by 27.8 per cent in 2007 despite higher oil revenues, local newspaper Khaleej Times reported yesterday.
The Gulf nation's current account surplus will plunge to around 21 billion US dollars in 2007 from 29 billion dollars in the previous year, said a report by the Britain-based consulting company Oxford Economics.
The percentage of current account surplus in the country's gross domestic product (GDP) will also decline to 11.6 per cent in 2007 from 17.5 per cent in 2006, according to the report.
Despite the pick-up in non-oil revenues as the economy continues to diversify, the UAE's current account will further shrink to 14.3 billion dollars in 2008 and 6.5 billion dollars in 2009 and 1.0 billion dollars in 2010, accounting for 7.5 per cent, 3.4 per cent and 0.5 per cent of the GDP respectively, the report added.
The downbeat predictions by Oxford Economics are different from what the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has envisioned in its Regional Economic Outlook, which said the UAE's current account balance would sustain the upturn of the past few years to reach 41. 7 billion dollars in 2007.