Dubai unveiled a 2020 budget, projecting record spending of $18.1 billion, up 17 percent on this year, as it seeks to revive its flagging economy.
The Gulf city-state expects revenues too to rise sharply next year as it hosts Expo 2020, the global six-month trade fair set to open on Oct. 20.
But it still foresees a deficit for the fourth year in a row of $700 million.
The government is hoping that Expo will draw some 25 million visitors, many of them from abroad, and is projecting a 25 percent increase in revenues to $17.4 billion.
Dubai is the only government in the Gulf not dependent on hydrocarbon revenues, and projects around 94 percent of income to come from non-oil sources.
Dubai is renowned for its skyscrapers, like the world’s tallest building Burj Khalifa, but its key property sector has been sliding since 2014.
Last year, growth slowed to 1.94 percent, less half the 2017 figure and the worst in a decade.
It picked up slightly to 2.1 percent in the first half of this year but the government is keen to do more to stimulate consumer spending and the real estate market.
Meanwhile, the UAE denied reports that a popular mobile application developed in the country was used for government spying.
Apple and Google removed the ToTok app from their marketplaces last week following a report claiming it allowed the UAE government to track users’ conversations, movements, and other details.
But the country’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority said in a statement that UAE laws “prohibit any kind of data breach and unlawful interception”.
It continued: “The TRA reaffirms that all certified telecommunications applications in the UAE are in compliance with these standards.”
ToTok became popular by offering free calling and messaging to millions of users in countries like the UAE where internet calling services like Skype are blocked.
But US intelligence officials and a security researcher determined the app was being used by the UAE government for detailed surveillance, The New York Times reported on Dec. 22.
Security researcher Patrick Wardle, who assisted the newspaper, said in a blog post that ToTok appeared to be part of a “mass surveillance operation”, which “likely afforded in-depth insight in a large percentage of the country’s population.”
ToTok appeared to trick users of iPhones and Android devices into handing over access to their location and private data on their devices, Wardle said.
It was also promoted by what appeared to be fake reviews, he said.
