Khalifa prepared the UAE for a full-scale post-oil economy
The roadmap he set out redefined energy, banking and capital markets
Preparing the UAE economy for a post-oil world will be Shaikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan’s enduring legacy for the country — and the wider GCC. It was under his stewardship from late 2004 that the economy shifted its gears from being a developing economy to one that is on the cusp of being a fully developed one.
Through this period, oil has averaged over $100 a barrel, reigned in the $80s, slipped under $50 and, during the year of Covid-19, dropped even further. All through this period, the UAE policymakers kept directing the company’s course to a time when oil would have less of a role in the economy’s growth trajectory. Whether it was the creation of Masdar, as the focal point of UAE’s renewable energy offensive, or setting clear milestones for a ‘net zero’ carbon roadmap by 2050, the UAE leadership had that clarity of thought and purpose. Through the difficult phases as well as the super-charged ones. If that meant pursuing blue/green hydrogen initiatives or build world-scale solar power plants, then the UAE went ahead with it.
With the economy poised to deliver a 4.2 per cent GDP growth this year — and oil’s current levels do help — UAE is in a position of strength, not just to compensate for pandemic disruptions of 2020 but meet the new and revised growth projections of the near future. And all through, the UAE leadership under Shaikh Khalifa kept firmly to that track. Not once slowing down even when oil prices at $80 and well over would have afforded some flexibility.
The country’s banking, financial services and stock
markets are emerging from the pandemic slowdown. Abu Dhabi continues to hit the markets with a steady stream of blue-chip IPOs and pushing the market cap to Dh1.74 trillion. Its mega-bank FAB has clocked assets in the Dh1 trillion range and has steadily extended its geographical footprint.
Abu Dhabi’s investment giants Mubadala, ADQ and Alpha Dhabi did the same, with the UK, Egypt, India, Turkey, Pakistan, and recently, Greece, securing those highvisibility investments.