Budget 2020: At the ready for Dubai’s Expo-nential leap
It’s all systems go in Dubai. The numbers are out, and they’re impressive. With 295 days to go for the inauguration of the world’s greatest show, the plan is now visibly coming together. The Ruler of Dubai has just approved the emirate’s largest-ever budget — and with good reason. Earmarking an awe-inspiring Dh66.4 billion expenditure for the year, Dubai is all set to reinvigorate the economy to welcome the world at the start of the prestigious Expo 2020 exhibition in October next year. That amounts to Dh181 million spent per day on upgrading the emirate’s infrastructure as well as enhancing services in all key sectors including healthcare, education and housing.
And not just that, a look at the sectors earmarked for a bulk of that expenditure reveals the grand thinking and planning that must have gone behind the preparation of the budget document. With an eye on the safety and security of not just citizens and residents but also the tens of millions of visitors expected to visit the emirate during the Expo, Dubai has allocated almost a fifth (19 per cent) of the year’s budget to the cause. But what takes the cake is, no surprises there, the infrastructure and transportation sector, to which almost half (46 per cent) of total spending is allocated. The overall objective, of course, remains to make the residents happy and Dubai one of the world’s most liveable cities.
In another country, under a different administration, it would have been easy to take the magnitude and scope of a largerthan-life event like the Expo as an excuse to ignore fiscal discipline ‘just this one time’. Not in Dubai. Not under the wise leadership of His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai. A key factor in yesterday’s announcement remains that the most expansive budget in the history of the emirate is not in operating deficit but has a surplus of almost Dh2 billion. The numbers are exciting for sure, but get ready to be dazzled by Dubai’s expo-nential leap this leap year.