UAE's economy to expand 4.5 percent

(MENAFN) The UAE Ministry of Economy said that the country still stands by its forecast that the country's economy will expand by 4.5 percent in the next fiscal year, adding that the growth in the non-oil sector is expected to match any drop in oil prices, Arab News reported.

The Ministry added that it expects that oil prices will start recovering by the middle of this year, echoing the same expectations of the Secretary General of OPEC who also expressed his optimism that since the prices have now reached their bottom, they will start improving soon.

"My expectation is that by the middle of this year we should see some turn in oil prices and an expected positive turn in the economies of Europe, the US and China," The UAE Minister of Economy said on the sidelines of a financial conference.