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Sep 30 2012

No new fees in 2013 federal budget

New budget to include approved pay rise for civil servants
 The UAE has no plans to introduce new fees or raise fees on government services in its 2013 federal budget which is expected to be released shortly, a the finance ministry undersecretary was reported on Sunday as saying.

Younus Khoury said the 2013 budget is part of a three-year Dh122-billion fiscal plan launched by the ministry in 2011 as part of a strategy intended to slash the UAE's deficit and achieve a balance federal budget.

"There is no plan to introduce new fees or increase the present fees in the 2013 federal budget," he told the Arabic language daily Alittihad.

He said the new budget would include Dh3.4 billion salary rise for federal civil servants ordered by President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed al Nahyan and implemented at the start of 2012.

Khoury said the ministry would not now reveal budget figures before revenue and spending estimates by each federal department are endorsed.

In recent statements, Minister of Finance Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai's deputy ruler, said he saw no need for the UAE to issue sovereign bonds to finance the deficit in its 2012 budget as it will use its own financial resources to bridge the shortfall.

He said the Ministry has completed studies on the proposed public debt law and it would be presented to the federal cabinet for further study and endorsement.

"There is no need for the UAE to issue bonds this year to finance the fiscal deficit as it will be covered by the country's own financial resources," he said.

The UAE's 2012 federal budget, which was approved in late 2011, involved spending of Dh45.278bn while revenue was put at Dh44.807bn, leaving a deficit of Dh471 million, a fraction of the country's GDP.

The shortfall is far below the 2011 deficit of around Dh3bn, which was financed by additional allocations from Abu Dhabi, the main oil producer.

Unlike some other Gulf oil producers, the UAE has never issued bonds to fund fiscal shortfalls, resorting instead to introducing fees on government services, developing other non-oil revenue and using return from its massive overseas assets, which were also used to support the consolidated financial account (CFA), covering the federal budget and spending by each emirate.

© Emirates 24|7 2012

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