Dubai on Sunday adopted its 2018 budget foreseing expenditure of 56.6 million dirhams (around $15.5 billion), a 19.5 percent increase over last year, as it prepares to host Expo 2020.

But the 2018 budget of Dubai, one of seven emirates in the United Arab Emirates, also forecasts a deficit of $1.7 billion -- the highest since the 2009 financial crisis, a government statement said.

"Dubai's commitment to Expo excellence, and to UAE's leading status on the international scene has led to approving a budget with an AED 6.2 billion deficit," Abdulrahman Saleh Al Saleh, who heads Dubai's government finance department, said.