Sharjah approves 2023 budget with expenditure at $8.8bn

WAM

Sharjah has approved its general budget for 2023 with total expenditures of nearly AED32.2 billion ($8.77 billion), state-run WAM news agency reported.

Expenditures decreased by 12 percent from the 2022 budget, but without affecting the most critical areas, such as employment and economic and social development.

Some 35 percent of next year’s budget has been earmarked for the emirate’s infrastructure sector, with 34 percent attributed to the economic development arm of the government, up one percent on the previous year. The social development sector came in third at about 23 percent of the total public budget for 2023.

Operational revenues will comprise 69 percent of the total revenue budget for 2023, an increase of 11 percent year-on-year. Salaries and wages constitute 28 percent, while operating expenses make up 30 percent, down four percent year-on-year.

The support and aid budget stands at about 13 percent, up five percent over 2022. Loan repayments and interest will also account for 13 percent of the total budget.

The percentage of capital revenues reached 11 percent for 2023, while tax revenues constituted about 10 percent of total public revenues, with an increase of about 48 percent year-on-year, WAM reported.

Customs revenues accounted for four percent, an increase of about four percent over 2022. Oil and gas revenues constituted about six percent, an increase of nearly 96 percent year-on-year.