The United Kingdom

Economy at its best since 2007

The current account deficit of the United Kingdom recorded in the third quarter of the year its highest level since 24 years, as the deficit of current account balance of the UK with the rest of the world, jumped in the third quarter of 2013 to reach 20.7 billion pounds ($33.9 billion), compared with 6.2 billion pounds in the second quarter, which is equivalent to 5.1% of GDP, which is the largest share since the third quarter of 1989. Economists had expected a deficit of 13.85 billion pounds in the same year. The volume of UK exports of goods to the UAE has increased to 11% until last September, totaling 6 billion pounds. The volume of trade between the two countries has increased in the first half of 2013 with a growth of UAE exports to the UK by about 59% to reach 1.43 billion pounds, while the growth of imports increased by about 9% compared with 2.84 billion pounds in the same period of 2012. The “UK-UAE Joint Economic Council” seeks to raise the value of trade exchange between the two countries to reach 19 billion USD by 2015. In addition, the United Kingdom participated, represented by the Secretary of State for Business, Innovation and Skills, in the activities of “World Future Energy Summit” held in Abu Dhabi, with the participation of 70 UK companies. The British side showed United Kingdom’s interests regarding oil and new technologies, where British oil companies seek to build relationships based on cooperation with Abu Dhabi, in a bid to shift into a global center for development. The British people are more optimistic by three times on the recovery of their country’s economy in the current year, compared to the past two years. Their percentage increased from 9% in 2012 to 29 % in 2014, while the percentage of pessimists decreased from 74 % to 40% during the same period.