DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates economy is expected to grow by 2.25 percent this year, Arabic daily Al Bayan quoted the Gulf oil producer's energy minister as saying. Mohammed bin Dhaen Al-Hamli also said there was a renewed optimism about the UAE economy after the end of the global financial crisis, the newspaper said on Wednesday. The global credit crunch ended an oil and real-estate driven boom in the world's third largest oil exporter, pushing it into its first downturn since 1993. Dubai debt woes have been weighing on the second biggest Arab economy this year. Hamli's comments are near the lower end of expectations by the UAE economy ministry, which projected gross domestic product growth of 2.0-3.2 percent in 2010 based on oil price projections of $75-85 a barrel. Analysts polled by Reuters in September raised their forecast for UAE GDP growth to 2.4 percent this year after state-owned Dubai World reached a $24.9 billion debt restructuring deal. The International Monetary Fund estimates that the UAE economy shrank by 2.5 percent last year. Benchmark U.S. crude prices hovered around $86.50 a barrel on Wednesday.
