Abu Dhabi, the federal capital of the United Arab Emirates, keeps Gulf Standard Time (GST) at UTC+4 in every season — the clock here has not moved since the zone was set, and it reads the same as in Dubai, 130 km up the coast.
Time zone facts
- IANA time zone: Asia/Dubai
- Country: United Arab Emirates (AE)
- Coordinates: 24.4539°, 54.3773°
Federal capital and financial centre
Ministries, embassies and the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) are based here, along with the ADGM financial free zone on Al Maryah Island. Government offices keep a Monday-to-Friday schedule, which leaves a full shared working day with Europe each weekday afternoon.
Sitting about one degree of longitude west of Dubai, Abu Dhabi sees sunrise and sunset roughly four minutes later than its neighbour, even though both cities show exactly the same time.
Abu Dhabi and the region
Abu Dhabi is one hour ahead of Riyadh and Doha, level with Muscat, and one hour behind Karachi. With no seasonal shift on the Emirati side, the gap to London alternates: four hours from late October to late March, three while Britain is on summer time.