The International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects the United Arab Emirates’ economic growth to nearly triple next year as the country’s capital Abu Dhabi, benefits from an expected recovery in oil prices, a report said.

The International Monetary Fund expects the United Arab Emirates’ economic growth to nearly triple next year as the country’s capital Abu Dhabi, benefits from an expected recovery in oil prices, reported Wam, the Emirates official news agency, citing Bloomberg.

The UAE’s gross domestic product will expand 3.4 per cent in 2018, largely on expectations that growth in Abu Dhabi will surge to 3.2 per cent, the IMF forecasts. Dubai’s output will accelerate more moderately, to 3.5 per cent, the Washington-based lender estimated.

"The non-oil sector both in Dubai and Abu Dhabi is almost growing at the same speed, around 3 per cent," Jihad Azour, head of the IMF’s Middle East and Central Asia Department, told reporters in Dubai on Tuesday, as the IMF released its World Economic Outlook at the Dubai International Financial Centre, DIFC.

The IMF expects oil prices to average $53 in the next two to three years. Saudi Arabia and Russia have indicated they support extending production cuts through 2018 to shore up prices.

The IMF expects Abu Dhabi’s non-oil economy to grow 3.3 per cent next year from 3.2 per cent in 2017, Azour said.