The UAE outpaced the rest of the Gulf in project awards in first quarter of this year, with the value rising 42.6% compared to the last three months of 2016, local media report.

The year-on-year growth in UAE project award values was 2.1%, according to Gulf News.

Dubai and Abu Dhabi saw a significant increase in activity, ahead of that in the wider Arabian Gulf, which saw a 22% rise in the value of projects awards quarter-on-quarter.

“The outlook for UAE project awards for the remainder of 2017 looks robust given the number of projects close to being awarded. Notably, $3 billion of projects have already been awarded in the second quarter. A strengthening in investment activity is largely behind our stronger real non-oil GDP growth outlook,” Monica Malik, Chief Economist of Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, was reported as saying.

All GCC countries witnessed a quarterly rise in project awards in the first quarter with the exception of Saudi Arabia, Gulf News reported.