UAE gov’t cuts spending amid oil slump

He said, the world economy is expected to pick up in the second half of 2016.

“There is a forecast that oil price is going to increase”.

Prices will probably be at $60 next year, after hitting bottom at $45, Ali Al Mansoori, the department’s chairman, said in an interview Sunday in the capital of the United Arab Emirates, the fourth-largest oil producer in the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries.

“We are part of the GCC and there should be a common policy”. He said the world could not afford to let oil stay at its current level, which is roughly $50 a barrel for Brent crude.

The UAE has a transparent plan to scale back the share of oil in the economy by 10 % inside the subsequent 15 to 20 years, he stated. The economy is already free from oil influence by up to 50 per cent, which shows the amount of efforts put in by the visionary leaders in the past four decades. “It depends at the end of the day on the performance of the economy as a whole”, he said. Al Mansouri was asked to comment on whether the UAE is considering the imposition of taxes in order to raise resources as oil prices dip.

“Iran is a member of OPEC and we think that every country has freedom with its production, but we hope that as an OPEC group we remain all on the same line of thinking and take group decisions, and we hope that members remain committed to the production ceiling of OPEC as that will support the balance of prices”.

The Economy Minister also highlighted the contribution of UAE’s worldwide funds and how it has helped the economy to tackle low oil price scenario.

Said another way, it isn’t clear that $50 is a “gift”, or that prices will gradually grind higher from here: there’s still a lot of oil out there. He hoped Iranians would maintain a “viable” price of oil and would not shoot themselves in the foot.