Nicosia, Apr 15 : The UAE Minister of Economy Sultan Bin Saeed Al Mansouri has said that the worst period for the United Arab Emirates economy was over and described the steps taken by the government to create a sense of stability as positive.

He added that those responsible understood the size of the challenges and were currently well organized.

Al Mansouri said he agreed with Nasser Bin Hassan Al Shaikh, Director General of Dubai''s Department of Finance, statement that the bad days were over for Dubai''s economy. Dubai has started disbursing a 10 billion dollars loan from the Central Bank, which is expected to have a knock-on effect throughout the economy.

The Minister said the UAE''s strategy was to support the economy by directing large investments toward the industrial sector in order to increase industry''s contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) and reduce the country''s dependence on oil.

As proof of the strategy''s success, he mentioned that the contribution of the industrial sector to GDP had increased to 27 per cent and industrial investments had exceeded 21 billion dollars.

Last September, the UAE Central Bank had established a 13.6 billion dollars liquidity enhancing facility for the country''s banks, while in October it guaranteed deposits of local and most foreign banks. (ANI)