Abu Dhabi’s economy may slow to 4.4 per cent in 2014 from 5.2 per cent last year as oil production and prices plateau, Moody’s Investors Service said in a report on the emirate in which it left its rating and outlook unchanged.
While the rating agency did not make any changes to Abu Dhabi’s Aa2 status with stable outlook and didn’t expect any short-term risks, it noted that more economic diversification and institutional transparency could boost its rating, while any prolonged slump in oil prices could lower them but would not result in a fiscal crisis.
“Even if the oil price were to fall below the fiscal break-even level of around US$70 per barrel, the Government would be able to finance fiscal deficits for many years given its large stock of financial assets,” analysts led by Thomas Byrne said in the report dated January 16.
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, the emirate’s main sovereign wealth fund, probably has at least $397 billion as of 2012, Moody’s said, citing the Institute of International Finance. So wealthy is the emirate that its government assets are at least three times the size of its government liabilities, the agency said.
Moody’s noted, however, that the economy of Abu Dhabi remains less diversified than the UAE as a whole, with 56.5 per cent of GDP derived from the oil sector compared to 28.2 per cent for the whole country.
Still, the rating agency expects that the emirate’s recent efforts at diversification, including the Government’s $160bn in infrastructure investments over the past five years, will shore up its economic growth outlook. The IMF, it said, forecasts that the UAE’s economic growth will average 3.6 per cent from 2014 to 2018, with much of that being driven by Abu Dhabi.
mkassem@thenational.ae
