In this digital age, competition never sleeps. Be it a company or a state, everyone will have to be on their toes all the time to stay ahead of the race. And Dubai does that in a style and maintains the lead in all economic perspectives – policies, reforms, or ease of doing business. To ensure that the emirate maintains its status as a regional hub and also strengthens its global portfolio, Dubai has been consistently innovating itself and introducing investor-friendly measures by slashing and waiving fees across a wide spectrum of government entities. Dubai has taken a holistic approach when it comes to making economic and financial policies, involving all major government departments, to ensure that steps taken are pragmatic, make the emirate an attractive destination for foreign direct investment and also accelerate the growth of the economy.
On July 29, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Dubai Executive Council, announced waivers and reductions of fees for a total of 88 services provided by various government entities to ease financial pressures faced by businesses and further raise Dubai’s attractiveness as a business and investment hub. These include departments like the Dubai Maritime City Authority, the Dubai Municipality, the Dubai Land Department, the Roads and Transport Authority, Dubai Tourism, Dubai Courts, Dubai Economy and the Dubai Health Authority. Importantly, Dubai’s pragmatic efforts are paying rich dividends and helping attract more foreign direct investment into diverse sectors. Despite the headwinds of the pandemic, the UAE ranked 15th globally in Kearney’s 2021 FDI Confidence Index, witnessed a 44.2 per cent jump in foreign direct investment in 2020 to Dh73 billion.
Dubai recorded exceptional inflows of FDIs in 2020 with 455 projects worth Dh24.7 billion.
While the issuance of a total of 31,000 licences during the first six months of 2021, compared to 17,478 licences in the same period in 2020, which is a growth of 77 per cent, is testament to the fact that the emirate’s economy is heading in the right direction and policies are bearing the fruit. “The records we have achieved inspire us to continue working as one team to further enhance Dubai’s position as an incubator for entrepreneurs and a hub for global companies by identifying new opportunities for investors to accomplish their ambitions and building innovative development pathways to reinforce Dubai’s global leadership in all fields,” Sheikh Hamdan said while announcing the new measures. With economic momentum picking up on the back of these recently-announced measures, the emirate’s economy is well on course to a projected growth rate of four per cent this year, one of the best growth rates in the region. This will strengthen confidence in the emirate’s sustainable economic policies and also attract more foreign direct investment.
