Sharjah plans to spend nearly AED6bn ($1.61bn) developing new infrastructure as part of its expansionary budget for 2019.

The budget has total expenses of AED25.7bn for next year, which is a 10 per cent increase on the spending set in the 2018 budget. At the same time, government revenues are expected to grow by 20 per cent in 2019.

Infrastructure accounts for 23 per cent of the total spending, and the government says 22 per cent of the budget spending will be on capital projects.

According to regional projects tracker MEED Projects there are $7.75bn of projects currently under construction in Sharjah, while there are another $8.2bn of projects at the pre-execution phase.

Another major component of the 2019 budget is salaries, which accounts for 43 per cent of the proposed spending. The government also says the budget includes 600 jobs for citizens.

Some 41 per cent of the budget is allocated to the economic development sector, and 22 per cent of the budget will be spent on the social development sector.

Social support and assistance to account for 11 per cent of the total budget.

Sharjah’s budget announcement follows the UAE cabinet approving an expansionary zero-deficit federal budget for the next three years (2019-21) with a AED180bn expenditure. In 2019, government spending is budgeted at AED60.3bn, a 17 per cent increase on the planned spending for 2018.