The UAE booked a consolidated state budget surplus of Dh36.2 billion ($9.9 billion) in 2011, the country's finance ministry said yesterday, publicly releasing such data for the first time.

The ministry said the figure included the federal budget as well as the fiscal balances of all seven  emirates which form the UAE.

Saeed Al Yateem, executive director of revenue and budget at the ministry, said the data would now be released every quarter starting next year.

The surplus revealed yesterday was equivalent to 2.9 per cent of the 2011 gross domestic product of the UAE, according to a Reuters calculation.

The country posted a deficit of Dh23 billion or 2.1 per cent of GDP in 2010, according to an International Monetary Fund report.-Reuters