The Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030
Capital Markets
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Abu Dhabi will work to improve the depth and stability of the money and capital markets and make them
less prone to external shocks.
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Abu Dhabi is still an emerging centre for IPO offerings and opportunities, and has much room for
expansion.
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When it comes to the equity market, Abu Dhabi already attracts a large proportion of the private equity
investment in the MENA region, but there is further room for development in IPO processes and
performance, as well as in stock market regulation and sophistication.
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Time-to-listing periods, which currently stand at an average of three to four months will be reduced.
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At present there is a limited number of pension funds and hedge funds in the market, and Abu Dhabi will
look at their development locally as well as encouraging the presence of foreign funds.
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The strict currency pegging to the US dollar has left the Government with few monetary policy tools to
manoeuvre with. In particular, the ability to use interest rates as an effective monetary tool is restricted.
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There is enormous potential to develop and expand the debt securities market, which includes bonds and
sukuks, and is currently in its infancy.
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New fiscal revenue sources will be identified and stable sources such as government bonds will be used to
finance the budget. The aim is to decouple the Government finances from oil revenues and to maximise
the Government’s future spending power.
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Loans and deposits are growing fast, but most savings are generated by the public sector and are used to
finance private sector credit.
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After years of fiscal prudence, Abu Dhabi is in a strong financial position; adopting a more proactive fiscal
policy will enable the Emirate to more effectively respond to and influence economic cycles.
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The time has come to upgrade fiscal policy in order to leverage the Emirate’s strong financial position
and make better use of fiscal tools to stimulate and stabilise the economy as the prevailing economic
conditions require.
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