What AED is really worth
Money kept as cash keeps its number but slowly loses what it can buy. Guess how much, then pick a year and an amount to see how UAE inflation has eaten into it, and how the same money would have done in a savings account, a stock index fund or gold.
Now try your own money
Change the amount and the starting year. The chart shows what the money can buy, in the prices of the year you started.
An illustration with simplified assumptions (no fees, taxes, spreads or making charges), not financial advice. Past returns don't predict future ones.
UAE inflation by year (%)
World Bank figures based on UAE Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre data. 2026 is an estimate of 2%, applied only for the part of the year that has passed. Change any year to see what happens.
Why a dirham buys less over time
The UAE dirham has been pegged to the US dollar at 3.6725 since 1997, so it doesn't lose value against the dollar. Inflation is a different thing: it measures what dirhams buy here, in shops, rents and school fees.
UAE prices actually fell in 2019 and 2020, mostly because rents dropped. Then they jumped in 2022 with fuel and food.
1 or 2% a year feels like nothing. But it builds on itself, year after year. Cash in a drawer never catches up.
A growing balance can still buy less. Switch the chart to "After inflation" to see each line in the prices of the year you started.
Sources: UAE yearly consumer price inflation 2008 to 2025 from the World Bank (indicator FP.CPI.TOTL.ZG, based on the UAE Federal Competitiveness and Statistics Centre's consumer price index), via FRED series FPCPITOTLZGARE, checked October 2026. The 2026 figure is an estimate of 2%, not a published number. Gold: LBMA yearly average prices in US dollars per troy ounce, via metalcharts.org, checked October 2026. Today's gold price (US$4,012 an ounce) is the spot price from gold-api.com on 26 October 2026, built into this page, so it does not update by itself. The 3.6725 peg: Central Bank of the UAE. The savings and index fund rates are assumptions you can change. This is an illustration, not financial advice.