ABU DHABI , 24th May, 2017 (WAM) -- The draft of the general federal budget for the fiscal year 2018 was the crux of the meeting held by the Financial and Economic Committee Wednesday. The meeting was chaired by H.H. Sheikh Hamdan bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Deputy Ruler of Dubai and UAE Minister of Finance, and H.H. Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, who is the Committee Vice Chairman.

The meeting comes on the heels of the federal departments' update of their draft budgets via the automated budgeting system for the coming five years from 2017 through 2021 to fulfill the requirements of the UAE Vision 2021 which aims for the country to be among the best in the world in all fields.

The committee reviewed the projected cash inflows for the second half of 2017 and 2018 fiscal years in light of the updated data and the anticipated growth in federal departments' self-generated revenues.

On top of the meeting agenda as well were the reports purporting the financial surpluses generated in 2016 that reflect the resilience of the UAE national economy as indicated by the Arab Monetary Fund's statistics which placed the UAE on top of Arab countries in terms of the impact of the balance of trade on the nation's gross domestic product over the past two years.

The tax reform blueprints announced across GCC states were among the topics discussed as well along with the additional financial allocations set by the federal departments for the year 2017.

Attending the meeting also were Sultan bin Saeed Al Mansouri, Minister of Economy, Dr. Abdullah bin Mohammed Belhaif Al Nuaimi, Minister of Infrastructure Development, and Mubarak Rashed Khamis Al Mansoori, Central Bank Governor.

WAM / Hatem

Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2017.