Dubai’s economy lost Dh2.9 billion ($789 million) due to traffic congestion on the UAE emirate's roads in 2013, a new report was quoted as saying.

The fugure accounted for the loss in working hours, time and fuel, a Gulf News report quoting the Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) said.

There are about 1.39 million vehicles registered in Dubai, the report said.

The scenario would have been much worse if RTA had not developed the city’s infrastructure over the last nine years, spending up to Dh60 billion in building roads, establishing a Metro network and expanding other modes of public transport, it added. Without these projects, the loss for the year 2013 would have been Dh16.6 billion ($4.518 billion).