Fri 20 Nov 2015 01:33 AM
Dubai Expo 2020 forecast to add $23.4bn to UAE's GDP
New Arqaam Capital report says event will boost GDP by 5%; will be 'bigger and better' than this year's Expo in Milan
Dubai Expo 2020 will add more than $23 billion to the UAE's gross domestic product (GDP), boosting it by about five percent, according to a new report by investment bank Arqaam Capital.
The research note said Dubai Expo 2020 will be "bigger and better" than the recently concluded Milan Expo 2015, with a more pronounced effect on GDP.
Jaap Meijer, managing director - research at Arqaam Capital, said: "While Expo 2020 is expected to cost $9.4bn to stage, almost double the investment of Milan Expo 2015, we see it as an overall positive stimulus to the economy.
"We expect an increase of government revenues in the UAE of $2.9bn (0.6 percent of GDP), given the larger scale of Expo 2020 compared to Milan 2015.
"Our research also suggests that the increase in consumption and tourism related directly to Expo 2020 will boost the UAE's GDP by $23.4bn, 5 percent of the total, almost four times the value of public investments."
Expo 2020 is scheduled to be hosted by Dubai in an area next to Jebel Ali. Spanning 438,000 square metres, Dubai Expo 2020 will be 10 percent larger in size than Milan Expo 2015.
UAE officials are expecting to welcome 25 million visits to the event, five million more than Milan Expo 2015, and for it to create 277,000 jobs, most of which will be in the tourism industry.
A previous report by Reidin said Dubai will complete an estimated AED301 billion ($82 billion) worth of projects in the areas of housing, entertainment and infrastructure by 2020.
The construction boom comes as Dubai prepares to host the prestigious World Expo event in 2020. At its peak, the Dubai Expo 2020 exhibition site at Dubai Trade Centre-Jebel Ali is designed to accommodate up to 300,000 visitors, with average week-day attendance expected at 153,000.
Running October 2020 through April 2021, the Expo will launch the country's Golden Jubilee celebration and serve as a springboard from which to inaugurate a progressive and sustainable vision for the coming decades.
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