Dubai, the financial and business hub of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is forecast to grow by 4% in this year 2021, recovering for a projected 6.2% contraction last year, the government said, and citing projections from the Dubai Statistic Centre.

Dubai Statistic Centre said the economy declined by 10.8% in the 1st six months of 2020, which the centre's executive director, Arif Al Muhairi, said was within the expected range of economic contraction, given the massive global economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The economy as expected ended the year 2020 with a 6.2% contraction, the statement said. Dubai launched 6.8 billion dirhams ($1.85 billion) stimulus, to help offset the shock and repercussions in the form of job losses or disruptions to businesses, the statement said.

Dubai started inoculating people with the COVID-19 vaccine produced by Pfizer and BioNTech for free from 20th January, the government said, joining Saudi Arabia which last week became the first Arab country to begin using this vaccine.