Balancing the books The UAE announced its third consecutive zero deficit budget last month, justifying its move toward a performance-based budgeting strategy.The 2007 federal budget is the first to apply the strategy since its introduction, along with a new budget law in 2005. The budget not only illustrates the federal government’s commitment to greater transparency and rigorous financial management but also highlights the key areas for national development for the next fiscal year and beyond. Means to an endThe budget, approved by the UAE cabinet on October 15, completes a three-year run of balanced budgets. Prior to 2005, the country had experienced a spate of budget deficits stretching back throughout the 1990s. The successful balancing of the last two budgets was complemented by the announcement of a new budgeting strategy in 2005. This policy is aimed at insulating the country’s fiscal management from short-term disruption to government revenue such as
