Dubai’s non-oil foreign trade has reached Dh2 trillion ($540 billion), a year ahead of schedule, driven by continuing economic growth in the emirate.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, announced the milestone on Tuesday, on X, previously known as Twitter.
In January 2020, the Dubai government announced the target to raise the volume of non-oil foreign trade to Dh2 trillion by 2025. To achieve this, the government built a team to set up a new logistical and legislative framework to open new markets.
“In 2020, before the Covid crisis, we announced from the Dubai Council a target for Dubai’s non-oil foreign trade to reach Dh2 trillion by 2025. Then the Covid crisis came, and the team informed me of the impossibility of achieving the goal as a result of this crisis that struck the global trade movement,” Sheikh Mohammed said on X.
“Life experiences taught me that crises are the best time to develop and think outside the ordinary,” Sheikh Mohammed added.
"We launched many initiatives, developed policies, changed and facilitated procedures during the largest global crisis that lasted for nearly two years. Today, a year before the deadline, we have reached our goal."
Dubai's economy, which is fuelled by various government initiatives, expanded by an annual 3.3 per cent in the first nine months of last year, driven by growth in the tourism and transportation sectors, the latest government data showed last month.
The emirate’s gross domestic product expanded by 3.2 per cent annually in the first half of last year to Dh223.8 billion, according to official data released in October.
It was driven by growth in sectors such as transport, trade, financial services, accommodation and food services, property, information and communication and manufacturing.
Last month, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed, Crown Prince of Dubai, announced a Dh500 million initiative to help small and medium enterprises based in the emirate to expand into regional and global markets.
In December, Dubai's non-oil private sector grew strongly, with activity reaching its highest level in 16 months as new orders rose and cost pressures eased.
The seasonally adjusted S&P Global Dubai purchasing managers' index reading hit 57.7 in December, up from 56.8 in November and well above the neutral 50-point mark separating an expansion from a contraction.
The reading was the highest since August 2022 and the second highest in four and a half years.
In November, the emirate also approved its budget for 2024, with Dh79.1 billion earmarked for spending.
The move aimed to support Dubai's ambitions to stimulate the macroeconomy and achieve the objectives of its Strategic Plan 2030 development project, the emirate's media office said at the time.
Company profile
Name: Steppi
Founders: Joe Franklin and Milos Savic
Launched: February 2020
Size: 10,000 users by the end of July and a goal of 200,000 users by the end of the year
Employees: Five
Based: Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai
Financing stage: Two seed rounds – the first sourced from angel investors and the founders' personal savings
Second round raised Dh720,000 from silent investors in June this year
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Rain Management
Year started: 2017
Based: Bahrain
Employees: 100-120
Amount raised: $2.5m from BitMex Ventures and Blockwater. Another $6m raised from MEVP, Coinbase, Vision Ventures, CMT, Jimco and DIFC Fintech Fund
Greatest of All Time
Starring: Vijay, Sneha, Prashanth, Prabhu Deva, Mohan
Skewed figures
In the village of Mevagissey in southwest England the housing stock has doubled in the last century while the number of residents is half the historic high. The village's Neighbourhood Development Plan states that 26% of homes are holiday retreats. Prices are high, averaging around £300,000, £50,000 more than the Cornish average of £250,000. The local average wage is £15,458.
The figures behind the event
1) More than 300 in-house cleaning crew
2) 165 staff assigned to sanitise public areas throughout the show
3) 1,000 social distancing stickers
4) 809 hand sanitiser dispensers placed throughout the venue
What is an ETF?
An exchange traded fund is a type of investment fund that can be traded quickly and easily, just like stocks and shares. They come with no upfront costs aside from your brokerage's dealing charges and annual fees, which are far lower than on traditional mutual investment funds. Charges are as low as 0.03 per cent on one of the very cheapest (and most popular), Vanguard S&P 500 ETF, with the maximum around 0.75 per cent.
There is no fund manager deciding which stocks and other assets to invest in, instead they passively track their chosen index, country, region or commodity, regardless of whether it goes up or down.
The first ETF was launched as recently as 1993, but the sector boasted $5.78 billion in assets under management at the end of September as inflows hit record highs, according to the latest figures from ETFGI, a leading independent research and consultancy firm.
There are thousands to choose from, with the five largest providers BlackRock’s iShares, Vanguard, State Street Global Advisers, Deutsche Bank X-trackers and Invesco PowerShares.
While the best-known track major indices such as MSCI World, the S&P 500 and FTSE 100, you can also invest in specific countries or regions, large, medium or small companies, government bonds, gold, crude oil, cocoa, water, carbon, cattle, corn futures, currency shifts or even a stock market crash.
The five types of long-term residential visas
Obed Suhail of ServiceMarket, an online home services marketplace, outlines the five types of long-term residential visas:
Investors:
A 10-year residency visa can be obtained by investors who invest Dh10 million, out of which 60 per cent should not be in real estate. It can be a public investment through a deposit or in a business. Those who invest Dh5 million or more in property are eligible for a five-year residency visa. The invested amount should be completely owned by the investors, not loaned, and retained for at least three years.
Entrepreneurs:
A five-year multiple entry visa is available to entrepreneurs with a previous project worth Dh0.5m or those with the approval of an accredited business incubator in the UAE.
Specialists
Expats with specialised talents, including doctors, specialists, scientists, inventors, and creative individuals working in the field of culture and art are eligible for a 10-year visa, given that they have a valid employment contract in one of these fields in the country.
Outstanding students:
A five-year visa will be granted to outstanding students who have a grade of 95 per cent or higher in a secondary school, or those who graduate with a GPA of 3.75 from a university.
Retirees:
Expats who are at least 55 years old can obtain a five-year retirement visa if they invest Dh2m in property, have savings of Dh1m or more, or have a monthly income of at least Dh20,000.
BIGGEST CYBER SECURITY INCIDENTS IN RECENT TIMES
SolarWinds supply chain attack: Came to light in December 2020 but had taken root for several months, compromising major tech companies, governments and its entities
Microsoft Exchange server exploitation: March 2021; attackers used a vulnerability to steal emails
Kaseya attack: July 2021; ransomware hit perpetrated REvil, resulting in severe downtime for more than 1,000 companies
Log4j breach: December 2021; attackers exploited the Java-written code to inflitrate businesses and governments
