Sheikh Sultan approves largest budget in Sharjah’s history

His Highness Dr Sheikh Sultan Bin Mohammed Al Qasimi, Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Sharjah, approved the emirate’s general budget, which reached an impressive total of around Dh42 billion, the largest in the history of the emirate.

This budget aims to promote financial sustainability, maintain a decent standard of living and promote social protection for all residents. Furthermore, it aims to strengthen social security, strengthen security measures and ensure the sustainability of vital resources such as energy, water and food.

The budget aims to strengthen the capacity of government agencies to finance their strategic initiatives and projects, ensure appropriate housing for various groups of citizens in Sharjah, and improve tourism infrastructure. These efforts aim to stimulate cultural, recreational and social tourism, thereby increasing the contribution of this crucial sector to sustainable economic development.

The 2025 general budget is based on several strategic and financial pillars. He emphasized a dedicated effort to cultivate a pioneering environment in the social, cultural, health, tourism and infrastructure sectors, comparable to that of advanced countries, ensuring that residents of the emirate benefit from the economic prosperity achieved.

The budget aims to strengthen the government’s capabilities to address global and regional challenges impacting economies around the world, such as inflation, rising interest rates, economic downturns and geopolitical tensions, which undoubtedly affect all nations.

The Sharjah Government is committed to leveraging its financial, economic and strategic resources to mitigate the negative effects of these challenges on the region’s financial landscape. Their aim is to protect the interests of UAE citizens, residents, businesses and institutions operating in Sharjah.

The overall government budget adopted a variety of strategic objectives, priorities and performance indicators that encompass economic, social, scientific, cultural, civilizational, tourism and structural dimensions. At the heart of this initiative is the citizen, who remains at the center of concerns.

Guided by the directives of the Ruler of Sharjah, the emirate’s budget aims to foster a decent quality of life for citizens and residents. This goal is achieved through the implementation of numerous projects and initiatives in different sectors, ensuring that everyone benefits from economic and social stability, as well as security and safety.

The budget aims to achieve several key objectives. The most important of these is improved infrastructure investment, alongside economic, social, cultural and tourism initiatives that strengthen the emirate’s competitiveness and ensure its financial viability.

The budget also focused on providing social support in various forms to meet the diverse needs of citizens and ensure a decent quality of life.

Furthermore, he focused on creating employment opportunities in the public and private sectors. Particular attention is paid to developing the skills and capabilities of job-seeking citizens, equipping them with valuable entrepreneurial skills to thrive in practical contexts.

This initiative aims to encourage them to contribute significantly to transforming Sharjah into a vibrant scientific and cultural hub while cultivating a distinctive environment for tourism and economic activity. Ultimately, these efforts aim to strengthen Sharjah’s cultural, economic and financial standing locally and internationally.

The budget aims to use and develop the most effective means and technologies to stimulate the economy, encourage development and ensure financial sustainability. He also highlighted the growing importance of national human resources and their vital role in the construction and sustainable development processes, which the budget aims to achieve in the 2025 financial year.

In line with the government’s financial plan for 2023-30, the budget focused on managing and optimizing spending in areas that may not add value to competitiveness or financial sustainability. This approach aims to improve the efficiency of public expenditure management in the emirate and improve the capacities of agencies to finance their programs, activities and strategic plans. Therefore, the 2025 budget provides for an increase of 2% compared to the 2024 budget.

Sheikh Mohammed Bin Saud Al Qasimi, Chairman of the Sharjah Finance Department, highlighted that the emirate’s general budget encompasses a series of strategic and financial objectives that correspond to the ambitious directives of the Ruler of Sharjah. This reflects its global and evolving vision, as well as the directions of the Executive Council and the strategic perspective of the Central Finance Directorate to achieve the highest levels of financial sustainability and effectively manage the government’s financial resources.

The budget also focused on improving the emirate’s competitiveness in various economic, social and infrastructural areas, while ensuring sufficient support for government agencies to provide services in line with international standards. Budget performance indicators are tailored to effectively measure these standards. Additionally, there is a strong focus on strengthening strategic partnerships with the private sector, providing ongoing support to ensure its continued growth and advancement within the emirate.

For the 2025 general budget, multiple development tools and innovative financing techniques have been adopted to explore the best possible financing opportunities both internally and externally. This approach aims to ensure the financial sustainability of the government, which has rolled out an integrated strategy in collaboration with relevant government agencies to enhance the digital transformation of various financial services. This includes modernizing electronic payment and collection methods, thereby providing competitive services to customers.

Furthermore, these efforts improve the ability of government agencies to streamline their operations and minimize red tape, paving the way for significant improvement in the emirate’s government financial system.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Saud said that the 2025 general budget has two main dimensions: economic and social development aimed at improving the quality of life of residents and strategic development focused on improving the financial viability of the government.

The budget includes strategic priorities aimed at boosting the emirate’s economy through reductions and review of various service fees to reduce costs for customers and investors. He placed emphasis on meeting developmental and social needs to achieve economic growth, thereby strengthening Sharjah’s position in regional and global markets.

Furthermore, the budget aims to improve financial stability and competitiveness by providing efficient financial and strategic services, fostering an attractive environment for local and international investors and improving tourism opportunities in the cultural, heritage, therapeutic, scientific sectors. and recreational.

All data, indicators and results are aligned with international financial standards regarding inflation rates, sectoral spending and other macroeconomic measures, while strengthening policies to control and rationalize public spending.

According to Sheikh Mohammed, the budget set a strategic direction for the emirate, focusing on infrastructure development in key facilities and areas, environmental preservation, public health initiatives and the promotion of tourism through various projects supervised by HH the Ruler of Sharjah. These efforts aim to improve the emirate’s status as a tourism, scientific and cultural destination while establishing a favorable investment environment.

The budget aims to expand investments in human resources and increase employment opportunities, which are identified as strategic priorities. It also focuses on providing financial support to government agencies to meet their funding needs, thereby strengthening their capacities to implement strategic and operational initiatives. Furthermore, the budget aims to provide high-quality services to all residents, adhering to standards and practices that contribute to the well-being of society, positioning Sharjah as a remarkable place in the global cultural, scientific and tourism landscape.

General budget figures for 2025 revealed a 2% increase in spending compared to the 2024 budget. In this budget, salaries and wages represent 27%, while operating expenses represent 23%.

The government continued its commitment to investment projects, ensuring that this budget remained significant at 20% of the total. Additionally, the budget for loan repayment and interest increased by 2% to constitute 16% of the overall budget for 2025, strengthening the government’s capacity and financial stability to meet its obligations.

On the other hand, the support and aid budget represents around 12% of the general budget, with investment expenditure representing around 2% of the total for 2025.

The classification of the budget according to economic sectors is a crucial tool that reflects the strategic direction of the government. For 2025, the infrastructure sector comes first, representing 41% of the total general budget. This represents an increase of 7% compared to the 2024 budget, demonstrating the government’s strong commitment to improving the emirate’s infrastructure. This orientation constitutes a key pillar of sustainable development and aims to attract foreign and local investments in various vital sectors.

The economic development sector ranks second in terms of relative importance, accounting for approximately 27% of the total general budget for 2025.

Meanwhile, the social development sector ranks third, accounting for approximately 22% of the total general budget for 2024. This sector has maintained its importance to the overall budget compared to 2024, ensuring that we provide the best services, support and assistance to citizens and residents of the emirate.

Additionally, the government administration and security and safety sector represents approximately 10% of the total general budget for 2025, an increase of 8% from the 2024 budget.

The government has focused on increasing public revenue by improving collection efficiency and adopting advanced technical and smart tools. The 2025 budget indicated a notable 8% increase in government revenues compared to 2024 figures. Operating revenues will account for 74% of the total revenue budget for 2025, reflecting a significant 16% increase over the 2025 revenues. exploitation of the previous year. At the same time, capital income is expected to represent 10% of the total for 2025.

Tax revenues are expected to contribute around 10% of overall government revenues for 2025, an increase of 15% from tax revenue projections for 2024. Additionally, customs revenues are expected to account for 4% of the total, keeping this figure relative to its importance the previous year.

Finally, oil and gas revenues will represent approximately 2% of the total revenue budget for 2025.

WAM