Dubai's ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum, has approved a 2014 budget plan for the emirate which envisages the deficit shrinking 41 per cent from the planned level for 2013, UAE state news agency WAM said on Monday.

State spending is projected to rise 11 percent from this year's planned level to total 37.88 billion dirhams ($10.3 billion) next year, WAM quoted Abdulrahman al-Saleh, director general of Dubai's department of finance, as saying.

Revenues are expected to come in at 37.00 billion dirhams, leaving a deficit of 882 million dirhams.

Saleh was quoted as saying the Dubai government could have eliminated the budget deficit next year but decided instead to continue raising state spending substantially to support economic growth. – Reuters