"There was a meeting of the Council of Ministers.

We approved the draft budget for 2013 with total spending of 44.6 billion dirhams, without a deficit," Sheikh Mohammed, who is also Dubai's ruler, wrote on his official Twitter account.

"The government's plan over the coming three years is to spend 133 billion dirhams for strategic plan development," he also said.

The UAE federal budget accounts for only around 11 percent of overall fiscal spending in the UAE, with individual emirates accounting for the rest.