UAE records deficit of $46.96 bln in '08

The United Arab Emirates recorded a 172.49 billion dirham ($46.96 billion) balance of payments deficit in 2008 versus a surplus of 183.24 billion dirhams ($49.9 billion) the year before, official data show, due to an outflow of funds.

The net balance of the capital and financial accounts was negative at 203.06 billion dirhams ($55.5 billion) in 2008 compared with the previous year, according to the data released on the UAE's central bank website on Sunday.

This was a "result of outflow of funds, including hot money which entered the UAE. in 2007, speculating on an increase in the dirham exchange rate, financial transfers abroad through banks (44.86 billion dirhams), non-banking private sector (50.40 billion dirhams) and public sector institutions (108.20 billion dirhams)," the central bank said in the report.