Abu Dhabi finance chairman emphasises importance of infrastructure and social spending

GCC governments must use their hydrocarbon money to “promote diversification into non-oil sectors to reduce reliance on hydrocarbon-related revenues”, the chairman of the Abu Dhabi Department of Finance said on Wednesday.

Hamad Al Suwaidi made the remarks in his opening address at a meeting of OECD experts and budgetary officials from the Middle East and North Africa on Wednesday, which he led.

Mr Al Suwaidi discussed the fiscal challenges facing regional governments, energy subsidy reform and best practices in public accounting.

He gave the example of investment in infrastructure projects, which is critical for expansions in sectors of the non-oil economy such as tourism, transport, manufacturing, finance, services and trade.

“However, there are other key imperatives. For example, it is inevitable that a large portion of budgeted expenditure is allocated towards the social sector,” he said.

“Given the growing youth population, the need to generate employment, meet rising housing demand and deal with food inflation, addressing social challenges in all forms is a key priority.”

Representatives from the UAE, Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Morocco, Palestine, Qatar, Tunisia and Yemen were in attendance.

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