His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President, Prime Minister and Ruler of Dubai, may God protect him, has approved the National Programme for the Development of the Statistical System in the UAE, in a strategic move that reinforces the country’s commitment to improving the quality of official economic statistics and keeping pace with rapid economic change.
The programme is designed to strengthen the UAE’s position among the world’s leading economies by delivering a more accurate and comprehensive picture of the true size, diversity and growth momentum of the national economy, while also enhancing the credibility and international comparability of official economic statistics.
A unified base year and a rebuilt GDP series
As part of the programme, 2024 will be adopted as a unified base year for national accounts across the country, while the national GDP time series for the period 2010–2026 will be rebuilt. This will provide a more precise and wider-ranging picture of the UAE economy, supporting economic decision-making, national policymaking and future planning.
The update is also expected to boost confidence among investors, financial institutions and international economic organisations, helping to further underline the UAE’s standing as a global economic power.
Responding to structural economic shifts
The programme comes in response to the structural changes the national economy has witnessed in recent years, particularly the rapid growth of non-oil activities and the expansion of the services, digital economy, technology and investment sectors.
It also makes use of modern administrative data sources, including data generated through corporate tax and value added tax systems, which provide broader coverage of economic activity and help improve the accuracy of measurement in a way that reflects the country’s economic reality.
Aligned with international statistical standards
The programme is based on an integrated national framework for updating and aligning national accounts in line with the United Nations System of National Accounts and the best international statistical standards and recommendations.
This is being achieved through the update of the base year, the expansion of data sources and stronger integration of administrative records, ensuring that economic indicators are produced with greater accuracy, consistency and transparency in accordance with the latest international practices.
It also reflects an institutional approach aimed at establishing regular base-year updates in line with the best international statistical standards and practices, alongside the adoption of a unified national methodology for revising GDP data at the federal level, ensuring the sustainable development of the national statistical system and its ability to keep pace with economic transformation.
All future updates will be carried out in accordance with approved international methodological frameworks and based on the readiness and availability of national data, ensuring the quality of official statistics and their comparability at the international level.
Broad national partnership
The National Programme for the Development of the Statistical System will be implemented through an integrated national partnership led by the Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre, as the national entity responsible for unifying official statistics across the country, in coordination with local statistics centres across the emirates and federal entities that provide data within the national statistical system.
This partnership enhances coordination and unifies data sources, and includes a number of key national entities, most notably the Central Bank of the United Arab Emirates, the Ministry of Finance, the Federal Tax Authority, the Ministry of Human Resources and Emiratisation, the Emirates Investment Authority, Etihad Water and Electricity Company, and other national entities. Together, they will provide an integrated national economic data base that supports the creation of a more comprehensive and accurate GDP time series.
A strategic umbrella for statistical modernisation
It is worth noting that the National Programme for the Development of the Statistical System serves as the strategic umbrella for updating the UAE’s national statistical framework through an integrated package of legislative, institutional and technical initiatives.
These include the national comprehensive review of GDP, the National Strategy for the Statistical System, a package of policies supporting statistical work, the national statistical data platform, the statistical leadership development programme, and the UAE Principles for Official Statistics document.
Together, these initiatives support economic decision-making and reinforce the country’s competitiveness as a leading global model in the development and production of official economic statistics.