Vaccine to give Dubai growth a major fillip

Vaccine to give Dubai growth a major fillip

Dubai Economy expects a 4.0 per cent growth in consumption and demand levels in the emirate in 2021 following the rollout of the free and extensive Covid-19 vaccination campaign.The bullish forecast is based on recent data on aviation and tourism and Google's daily data on the mobility of individuals across malls, restaurants and other entertainment facilities in the emirate.The growth projection given by Dubai Economy for 2021 far exceeds the overall 1.3 per cent growth forecast of made by the International Monetary Fund for the UAE. The World Bank, on the other hand, revised slightly downward its economic growth forecast for the UAE to 2.4 per cent in 2022, hinting the recovery would be subdued after a contraction of 6.3 per cent in 2020 and a 1.0 per cent surge projected for this year.According to the IMF, the Arab world's second largest economy could shrink by 6.6 per cent in 2020.The Supreme Committee of Crisis and Disaster Management in Dubai had announced the launch of the vaccination campaign earlier, and Dubai Health Authority stated that the vaccination process would take place across several stages, beginning with the most vulnerable groups (until the end of March 2021), including the elderly, frontline