Today's Edition
 launches 2027 Budget Cycle to reinforce financial sustainability in the emirate)
ABU DHABI (ALETIHAD)
The Department of Finance – Abu Dhabi (DoF) organised a high-level event to launch the 2027 Budget Cycle, marking the first formal phase in the process of preparing the year’s budget.
Hosted at the Zayed National Museum, the event brought together more than 240 senior officials representing 50 government entities from across the emirate, which reflects the advanced level of coordination and strategic integration across Abu Dhabi’s public financial management ecosystem.
Held under the theme Direction. Discipline. Delivery, the event featured organised discussions aligned with the emirate’s firm commitment to reinforce governance and multi-year financial planning – an approach that plays a central role in shaping a sustainable financial future, particularly with regards to aligning strategic priorities with financial planning and execution.
The event highlighted how this forward-looking vision empowers decision-makers to make proactive, well-considered financial choices that anchor long-term fiscal stability, in line with government priorities.
On the sidelines of the event, the Department of Finance – Abu Dhabi honoured the government entities that won the inaugural cycle of the Budget Excellence Award, launched by DoF last year.
The recognition celebrates their exceptional contributions to developing the budget management system and fostering a culture of accountability and institutional performance.
Director General of Government Financial Affairs at DoF, Her Excellency Buthaina Al Mazrouei, said, “This annual event marks the start of the government budget cycle, which serves as the most critical strategic tool for achieving the objectives of various government programmes and ensuring fiscal discipline. Cross-government collaboration in preparing the budget is a reliable tactic embraced by Abu Dhabi’s wise leadership for decades. This approach, in turn, has consistently enhanced our ability to professionally navigate regional and global economic shifts and challenges. The Budget Excellence Award has presented us with four outstanding models that all professionals in the field can explore and learn from.”
Winners of the Budget Excellence Award 2026 included Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development (ADDED) in the Best in Overall Budget Performance category; Mohamed bin Zayed University for Humanities in the Budget Optimisation, Risk Assessment & Management category; Department of Health Abu Dhabi (DoH) and Abu Dhabi Public Health Centre in the Programme-Based Budgeting Implementation category; and the Department of Culture and Tourism – Abu Dhabi (DCT Abu Dhabi) in the Revenue Growth category.
The event’s agenda focused on the core pillars required to spearhead the transition toward a more integrated and cohesive government financial model that combines expenditure reviews, precise costing processes, and Programme and Performance-Based Budgeting (PBB), in addition to exploring ways to use artificial intelligence technologies in the service of strategic government goals.
These discussions reflect DoF’s ongoing commitment to advancing the financial ecosystem and adopting clearer, more sustainable frameworks for managing the emirate’s public finances.
The Department of Finance – Abu Dhabi continues to lead the systematic development of public financial management by deepening partnerships with government entities, advancing financial planning tools, and strengthening oversight and accountability processes.
These efforts reflect the emirate’s firm commitment to building a public finance system that blends effective spending and efficiency with the capacity to achieve Abu Dhabi’s development aspirations and ensure the fiscal sustainability of its resources.
