Economic growth in the petroleum-rich United Arab Emirates widened in 2008 despite weakening oil prices and the global financial crisis, official figures showed on Wednesday. Real GDP grew by 7.4 percent compared with 5.2 percent in 2007, according to preliminary data from the economy ministry published by state news agency WAM. Economy Minister Sultan Bin Saeed Al-Mansuri said the effects of the global crisis on the UAE economy last year had been “limited.”
