_*Economy #_Overview: The UAE has an open economy with one of the world's highest incomes per capita outside the OECD nations. This wealth is based on oil and gas, and the fortunes of the economy fluctuate with the prices of those commodities. Since 1973, when petroleum prices shot up, the UAE has undergone a profound transformation from an impoverished region of small desert principalities to a modern state with a high standard of living. At present levels of production, crude oil reserves should last for over 100 years.
_#_GDP: $27.3 billion, per capita $12,100; real growth rate 10% (1989 est.)
_#_Inflation rate (consumer prices): 3-4% (1989 est.)
_#_Unemployment rate: NEGL (1988)
_#_Budget: revenues $3.8 billion; expenditures $3.7 billion, including capital expenditures of $NA (1989 est.)
_#_Exports: $15.0 billion (f.o.b., 1989 est.);
commodities—crude oil 65%, natural gas, reexports, dried fish, dates;
partners—US, EC, Japan
_#_Imports: $9.0 billion (f.o.b., 1989 est.);
commodities—food, consumer and capital goods;