The UAE’s hydrocarbon export earnings are expected to climb to their highest ever level of more than $122 billion in 2012 because of high production and prices, said the IMF.
IMF expects country’s output at 2.6 mbpd and crude prices at record $122 bn. The UAE pumped around 2.6 million barrels per day of crude in 2011 and output is projected to remain unchanged in 2012, it said. Global crude prices could climb to a record high average of about $119.7 a barrel this year to break a previous record of $109.6 in 2011.
This high price range will lift the country’s oil and gas export revenues to nearly $122.1 billion in 2012 compared with $111.6 billion in 2011.
Gulf economies are expected to benefit from rapidly rising oil prices, the lender said in its GCC Quarterly update. The benchmark rate for Brent crude reached US$123 per barrel in March, the highest monthly average since July 2008 on the back of geopolitical tension and risk.
The IMF said the surge in the UAE’s hydrocarbon export income lifted its nominal GDP by around 20.8 per cent to $360 billion in 2011 from $298 billion in 2010. It expected GDP to swell further to $386 billion in 2012 and $394 billion in 2013.
