Dubai Economy Grows 4% to $32.6bn in Q1 2025 as Health, Property and Finance Surge…

UAE News:

UAE and Russia signed a bilateral Trade in Services and Investment Agreement, building on the broader Economic Partnership Agreement between the UAE and the Eurasian Economic Union. Bilateral non-oil trade between the nations stood at around USD 6.65bn in H1 2025 (+75.3% YoY) and USD 11.5bn in 2024 (+4.9% YoY), and the UAE aims for this to double at both the bilateral level and with Eurasian countries in five years’ time.

Dubai welcomed 9.88mn international visitors in H1 2025, up 6.0% YoY, with visitors from GCC and MENA accounting for 26% of total arrivals. Average occupancy in the emirate rose to 80.6% (vs 79% a year ago), average daily rate grew by 5% to AED 584 (or USD 159) and revenue per available room rose to AED 471 (+7%).

Building permits applications processed in Dubai surged to over 30k in H1 2025, up 20% YoY, and covering 5.5mn+ sqm of built-up area. New permissions were almost evenly split between commercial/investment buildings (~45%) and residential villas (~40%), with industrial and public structures comprising the rest. Currently, 726 developments are underway across the emirate, according to the Dubai Land Department.

Summer temperatures in the UAE are soaring: on Aug 1, it was reported to be 51.8°C in the town of Sweihan: this was close to the all-time peak of 52.1 °C (recorded in July 2002). August temperatures are projected to remain 0.25–0.5 °C above average this year.

Dubai’s economy expanded to AED119.7bn ($32.6bn) in the first quarter of 2025, up 4% compared to the same period in 2024, underscoring the emirate’s economic resilience and sectoral diversity.

MENA News:

Net international reserves in Egypt climbed to a record USD 49.036bn in July, reflecting steady accumulation since the launch of its flexible-exchange-rate policy in March 2024. Separately, net foreign assets touched EGP 741.8bn (roughly USD 15bn) by end-June, continuing a rebound from past negative territory as it restores external balances through remittances, tourism inflows, and structural reforms (attracting external financing).

Independent Chinese oil companies are increasingly investing in Iraq’s oil sector and seem on track to double their production to 500,000 barrels per day by 2030. This shift comes as major Western oil firms scale back operations in the region, and Iraq’s move towards more lucrative profit-sharing contracts (from fixed-fee agreements) has attracted these firms.

Oman reported a 5.5% YoY increase in vehicle registrations to nearly 1.8mn as of end-June 2025, with private vehicles accounting for 79% of the total.

The Ministry of Labour in Oman noted the creation of more than 12k new jobs in H1 2025, roughly 38% of its employment target for 2025. Of this, 82.1% of jobs were created in the private sector.

China’s Sungrow Hydrogen is partnering with Oman’s United Engineering Services (UES) to construct  Oman’s first plant specialising in green energy equipment in Duqm. The site will produce electrolysers, liquefied-gas equipment, purification and power systems in Duqm.

The banking sector in Qatar reported a 5.2% increase in domestic credit issuance to QAR 1.33trn in June, alongside a 1.9% rise in domestic deposits (to QAR 850.5bn). Additionally, total assets of commercial banks grew by 6.3% to reach QAR 2.13trn. All are supportive of business investments and domestic consumption, facilitating economic expansion.

Syria signed 12 investment agreements worth USD 14bn, including a USD 4bn deal with Qatar’s UCC Holding to construct a new airport, a USD 2bn deal with the UAE’s National Investment Corporation to develop a subway system in Damascus, and plans to develop a USD 2bn “Mega City” in Damascus, featuring 20,000 residential units across 60 high-rise buildings (a collaboration between Italy’s Ubako and local company Yobaco) – all part of Syria’s broader reconstruction efforts following over a decade of conflict.

OPEC’s oil production increased to 27.38mn barrels per day (bpd) in July, up by 270k bpd from June, with the UAE and Saudi Arabia contributing the most to this rise, while Iraq lowered output due to additional compensation cuts and disruptions due to drone attacks. This reflects OPEC+’s strategy to gradually unwind production cuts while managing member compliance.

Maersk CEO highlighted during an earnings call that the Red Sea crisis continues to cause significant disruptions to global shipping routes, leading to costly detours; this was also reinforced by other shipping companies. These disruptions are expected to last through 2025, impacting supply chains and raising transportation costs, reshaping global trade dynamics.

Saudi Aramco revenues fell to USD 22.67bn in Q2 2025, reflecting lower average realised oil prices (to USD 66.7 per barrel), and net profits fell for the 10th consecutive quarter (-22% YoY to SAR 85.02bn). Aramco maintained full upstream reliability, delivered robust free cash flow (SAR 57bn for Q2; SAR 129bn for H1), and remained committed to gas expansion.

The active oil rig count in Saudi Arabia plunged to 20 rigs in July 2025, the lowest since February 2005, and down from 46 in early 2024, reported Bloomberg. This highlights Aramco’s strategic shift away from upstream expansion and reinforcing gas-related investments (including infrastructure).

Global News:

Global stock markets gained last week on upbeat corporate earnings and expectations of US Fed rate cuts: in addition to US stock market gains during the week (Nasdaq surging close to 4%), Stoxx ended gaining more than 2% and the MSCI gauge of global stocks was up by 2.5%. Even the Swiss SMI index gained despite the implementation of the 39% US tariff on Swiss trade. Regional markets were mixed, on Fed moves uncertainty and mixed earnings season; Egypt touched fresh record highs last week, while Qatar’s index climbed to its highest level in more than 2.5 years.  Among currencies, the dollar index fell while the GBP-USD settled just below a 2-week high on the Bank of England policy decision to cut rates to a two-year low. Expectations of a Russia-Ukraine truce weighed on oil prices, as did the impact of the latest US tariffs on global growth (Brent and WTI were down by 4.4% and 5.1% respectively), while gold futures retreated from record high USD 3,534.10 touched this Friday (reports of gold bullion bars being affected by US country-specific tariffs spooked markets). 

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SOURCE:
Nasser Saidi & Associates

Arabian Business