General Information » Economy » Abu Dhabi Overview

Traditionally, Abu Dhabi's economy was based around pearl diving, fishing and cultivating the date palm. However, the discovery of oil brought about a radical change. Exports began five years later and the new wealth, coupled with enlightened leadership, facilitated a complete turnaround to Abu Dhabi’s fortunes. A modern city was created, with an infrastructure built virtually from scratch.

Ongoing exploration in Abu Dhabi, both onshore and offshore, has so far identified 10% of the world’s known crude oil resources. This makes Abu Dhabi the third largest oil producer in the Gulf, after Saudi Arabia and Kuwait. It also has 4% of the world’s known natural gas reserves. The emirate's infrastructure has been expanded considerably to support extraction of the marine crude resources and processing oil and gas is now big business. The government runs the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC), which was set up to manage the reserves and to administer the industry.

Measures are being implemented to diversify the economy, to reduce its reliance on oil wealth. In Abu Dhabi, both government and private sector investment in agriculture, industry, fishing, water and electricity supply, transport, construction, warehousing and retailing has grown at a breakneck pace. Communications are the responsibility of the federally run Emirates Telecommunication Corporation (Etisalat) which, although currently a monopoly, is continuously building and expanding its services. A second state controlled telecoms company is being developed but a plan to privatise this sector has been deferred until at least 2015.

Tourism in Abu Dhabi is expected to play a major part in the future of the economy. This sector is not, at present, as developed as in the emirate of Dubai, but the establishment of the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, by Ruler's Decree, in September 2004, has created a statutory body to oversee the development and promotion of tourism.

Export of non oil related products has grown threefold since 1990 and continues to rise. Private and overseas investment is actively encouraged.

Not every expat worker is paid a huge salary, with the exception of highly skilled professionals, the salary for most employees is dropping, in real terms, and this downward trend is attributed, in part, to the willingness of workers to accept jobs at very low wages. While per capita income was Dhs.91,000 in 2004, this figure included all sections of the community, and the average labourer can expect to earn as little as Dhs.600 (US$165) per month.

Unemployment levels amongst the national population are high, partly due to the...