A Quantitative Assessment of the Role of the Private Sector in Economic Diversification in UAE

The United Arab Emirates (UAE) has often been addressed as a success case in the GCC region due to its implemented policies that spurred growth and development with a market-friendly approach. This study aims to investigate the relationship between economic diversification and private sector development. For this, we employed an ARDL con-integration method to check the long run as well as short run relationship between variables. We found that the domestic credit to private sector has a positive relationship with diversification index. Also, domestic credit to private sector (DCPS) percentage of GDP has both short and long run relationship with economic diversification index. The results indicate that the domestic credit to private sector will promote the economic diversification in both the short and long runs. Moreover, the government infrastructure will also promote economic diversification in the long run but not in the short run. The trade openness has a negative impact on economic diversification in the long run, but it has a positive impact in the short run.