UAE's 2011 economic issues in focus

Economists flag up important elements for the country to consider next year.

Khatija Haque, economist and the vice president of research for Shuaa Capital:"There are a lot of legacy issues and structural imbalances that need to be worked out of the system over the next few years, including de-leveraging of quasi-government entities and the oversupply in the property sector in some parts of the UAE. Risk aversion is still high, and that is also having an impact on the availability of credit to the private sector."

Taline Koranchelian, the mission chief for the UAE, Middle East and central Asia department, IMF: "Continuing to restore confidence through improved transparency and corporate governance together with strengthened economic surveillance and risk management will help to ensure sustainable growth over the medium term."

Jarmo Kotilaine, the chief economist at Saudi Arabia's National Commercial Bank: "Credit availability and the property market."

Shady Shaher, an economist for the MENA region at Standard Chartered: "There are two core issues we are worried about. The first is credit availability given the weak credit growth throughout the last two years. The second is government legislation. We believe legislative issues need to be addressed because they bring down funding costs and increase the absorptive capacity of the economy."

Eckart Woertz, a visiting fellow at Princeton University and the former director of economic studies at the Gulf Research Centre: "Sovereign and corporate debt issues, the property market, global economic performance."

Tim Fox, the chief economist at Emirates NBD: "Credit availability will probably be the critical factor but oil prices and global economic performance are also important."

Garbis Iradian, the deputy director of the Africa and Middle East department at the Institute of International Finance: "Progress in structural reforms, including in the legal and regulatory environment, and enhancement of transparency and governance of the corporate sector along with a benign global market environment, could put the economy back again on a higher growth path without compromising stability."

Ann Wyman, the managing director and head of emerging markets research (Europe) for Nomura International: "Sovereign and corporate debt issues."

Alessandro Magnoli Bocchi, the chief economist at the Kuwait-China Investment Company: "Credit availability and sovereign and corporate debt issues."