The UAE Dirham has continued to appreciate in Q1 2017 for the twelfth consecutive quarter, according to Central Bank of the UAE statistics.
With a few exceptions, the Dirham appreciated against most of the UAE’s main trade partners. From the import side, the weighted Dirham’s appreciation against its top-nine non-dollarised import partners, which claim 48.5 percent of the UAE total imports, was 0.37% in Q1 of 2017.
The UAE currency has appreciated against all its main import partners, with a simple average bilateral appreciation of 1.2% during the first quarter of 20175 . The highest quarterly appreciation was against the Japanese Yen, where the Dirham gained around 3.6%. Japan is contributing around 5.7% in the total imports of the UAE. On the other hand, the Dirham gained 1.2% against the Euro. Imports from Germany, Italy and France account altogether for more than 24% of total imports.
The Dirham gained also 0.7% and 0.3% against the Chinese Yuan and the GB Pound. As the top-one importer to the UAE, China is contributing 12.4% to the total imports.
The most important recorded gains were against the GB Pound (15.6%), the Chinese Yuan (5.3%) and the Euro (1.5%) accounting for 27.8% of total imports. However. On the non-oil export side, the Dirham has appreciated against its top-nine non-dollarised export partners. The weighted appreciation was 0.63% in Q1 2017 compared to the previous quarter.

Source: WAM