UAE current account surplus quadruples in 2011

* Current account surplus rises to 8.5 pct of GDP in 2011

* Hydrocarbon export value jumps 50 pct

* Capital and financial account turns negative, investment

up

* Central bank investment into foreign securities rise

DUBAI, May 17 (Reuters) - The United Arab Emirates' current

account surplus quadrupled to 112.7 billion dirhams ($30.7

billion) in 2011 as both crude and non-oil exports soared, the

central bank's annual report showed on Thursday.

The surplus surged to 8.5 percent of gross domestic product

last year from 2.4 percent, or 26.6 billion dirhams, in 2010,

according to a Reuters calculation.

The 2011 calculation is based on a GDP estimate by the

International Monetary Fund since the UAE's statistics office

has yet to release GDP data for last year. The OPEC member's

2010 balance of payments data has been revised.

Last year's outcome is smaller than the IMF estimate for a

surplus of 9.2 percent of GDP, released following regular

consultations with the country in February and March.

The value of UAE hydrocarbon exports surged nearly 50

percent to 409.9 billion dirhams last year ($111 billion),

helped by robust oil prices and higher output as a part of the

OPEC drive to help cover shortfalls due to a civil war in Libya.

Crude accounted for 81 percent of hydrocarbon exports of the

UAE, one of the world's top five oil exporters, with the rest

almost evenly divided between gas and petroleum products.

A Reuters poll in March showed analysts expecting the UAE's

hydrocarbon export revenue of $110 billion in 2012.

Non-oil exports jumped 22 percent to 228.0 billion dirhams,

while re-exports rose 23 percent to 396.5 billion, the data

showed. Imports to the $360 billion economy, the second largest

in the Arab world, were also up 23 percent last year, at 742.4

billion dirhams.

The net balance on the UAE capital and financial account

turned negative in 2011, reaching 60.4 billion dirhams, which

indicates a net outflow of capital from the Gulf country, the

central bank said.

"This was due mainly to a net outflow of capital by the

public sector, in the amount of 95.0 billion dirhams, while the

net inflow of private capital was in the amount of 34.6 billion

in 2011," it said.

Direct investment soared 40 percent to 28.2 billion dirhams

in 2011, the highest level since 50.4 billion in 2008, when the

global crisis pierced Dubai's property bubble.

Remittances sent home by UAE nationals working abroad rose

to 41.2 billion dirhams last year from 38.8 billion in 2010, the

report showed.

The UAE, which has one of the highest incomes per capita

globally, served as a safe haven for last year for foreign

capital seeking a refuge from the wave of social unrest in the

Middle East and North Africa.

The central bank's foreign currency assets increased to

169.4 billion dirhams in 2011 from 153.4 billion in the previous

year. Its investments abroad into highly rated securities,

government bonds and treasury bills rose to 72.3 billion dirhams

from 68.4 billion in 2010, the report said.

The central bank did not give further details on the nature

of its investments. It has traditionally kept the majority of

its reserves in dollar-denominated assets due to its currency

peg to the U.S. dollar.

The UAE's economic growth is forecast to ease to 3.1 percent

this year, a Reuters poll showed in March, from the IMF

estimated 4.9 percent in 2011, partly due to a global slowdown.

($1 = 3.673 UAE dirhams)

(Reporting by Martin Dokoupil; Editing by Ruth Pitchford)