IMF managing director Christine Lagarde has urged the UAE government to pursue gradual fiscal consolidation by raising non-oil revenues and fully phasing out energy subsidies.

Lagarde, in a report filed on 24 February following her trip to the UAE this week, also praised the UAE government’s initiatives of building large fiscal and external buffers, advancing economic diversification, and taking steps to address the consequences of the sharp drop in oil prices through the reform of fuel subsidies.

Lagarde also underscored the importance of revenue mobilisation and global cooperation on taxation in a forum jointly hosted at a forum jointly organised by the IMF and the Arab Monetary Fund. The IMF chief also met with the UAE’s women leaders, students and young entrepreneurs during her visit where she reported being “impressed by the country’s dynamism and determination to place the UAE among the most competitive countries in the world”.

”The IMF enjoys a strong relationship with the UAE authorities, and the Fund will continue to help the country through policy advice and capacity development,” Lagarde said in her report.