On February 3, Dubai’s ruler, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, unveiled the Dubai Strategic Plan (DSP)-2015, a broad-based plan that outlines the emirate’s social and economic objectives for the next eight years. Among the key points of the DSP is achieving a gross domestic product (GDP) of $108 billion and lifting real per capita income to $44,000 by the end of the plan’s life span. Good shot at hitting target If the past is anything to go on, Dubai has a good chance of meeting these goals. In 2000, Sheikh Mohammed laid out an economic agenda for the emirate for the coming decade, Vision for Dubai, which included raising the GDP to $30 billion, increasing per capita income to $23,000 and reducing oil’s contribution to the GDP. By the midpoint of the ten-year plan, the GDP had increased to $37 billion, per capita income was $31,000 and, with the
