The Central Bank of the UAE on Monday refuted reports that it plans to issue a digital currency as part of its 2023-2026 strategy, a spokeswoman confirmed to The National.
The clarification came after reports had emerged that the regulator was planning to issue a digital currency.
The UAE Central Bank has yet to accept or acknowledge crypto or digital assets as a legal tender in the UAE. The only legal tender in the country is the UAE dirham.
"All major news about the Central Bank of the UAE will communicated through our official channels," a spokeswoman told The National.
Central banks across the world have been seeking to develop digital currencies.
Central Bank Digital Currencies, or CBDCs as they are known, are different from cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, which have experienced wild swings in pricing in recent months.
The CBUAE and the Saudi Central Bank have completed a proof-of-concept project on a wholesale central bank digital currency "to settle domestic and cross-border transactions using central bank money on a distributed ledger technology", the regulators said in February.
The UAE Central Bank has also joined the second phase of a multiple digital currency project called m-CBDC Bridge for cross-border payments initiated by the Hong Kong Monetary Authority and the Bank of Thailand, it said at the time.
CBDCs have the potential to be the real disruptor of the financial world, as opposed to cryptocurrencies that are merely a tool for speculative investment, S&P Global Ratings said in June.
“The price of a cryptocurrency is volatile and it can go down, but what cannot go down is the price of a CBDC,” Mohamed Damak, a senior director at S&P Global Ratings, said, noting that CBDCs will help build “trust across the ecosystem” but their development will "still take some time".
In April, the Bank of Japan said it would begin a series of experiments for a digital yen and the UK Treasury and Bank of England said they would establish a task force to develop a "Britcoin".
US Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell said in May that the Fed plans to publish a discussion paper this summer, which will outline its current thinking on digital payments.
G7 finance ministers and central bank governors have also pledged to work together on CBDCs to develop an understanding "on their wider public policy implications".
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FIGHT%20CARD
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Sarfira
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Starring: Akshay Kumar, Radhika Madan, Paresh Rawal
Rating: 2/5
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Christopher Robin
Starring: Ewan McGregor, Haley Atwell, Jim Cummings, Peter Capaldi
Three stars
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
AGL AWARDS
Golden Ball - best Emirati player: Khalfan Mubarak (Al Jazira)
Golden Ball - best foreign player: Igor Coronado (Sharjah)
Golden Glove - best goalkeeper: Adel Al Hosani (Sharjah)
Best Coach - the leader: Abdulaziz Al Anbari (Sharjah)
Fans' Player of the Year: Driss Fetouhi (Dibba)
Golden Boy - best young player: Ali Saleh (Al Wasl)
Best Fans of the Year: Sharjah
Goal of the Year: Michael Ortega (Baniyas)
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Pots for the Asian Qualifiers
Pot 1: Iran, Japan, South Korea, Australia, Qatar, United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, China
Pot 2: Iraq, Uzbekistan, Syria, Oman, Lebanon, Kyrgyz Republic, Vietnam, Jordan
Pot 3: Palestine, India, Bahrain, Thailand, Tajikistan, North Korea, Chinese Taipei, Philippines
Pot 4: Turkmenistan, Myanmar, Hong Kong, Yemen, Afghanistan, Maldives, Kuwait, Malaysia
Pot 5: Indonesia, Singapore, Nepal, Cambodia, Bangladesh, Mongolia, Guam, Macau/Sri Lanka
Gender pay parity on track in the UAE
The UAE has a good record on gender pay parity, according to Mercer's Total Remuneration Study.
"In some of the lower levels of jobs women tend to be paid more than men, primarily because men are employed in blue collar jobs and women tend to be employed in white collar jobs which pay better," said Ted Raffoul, career products leader, Mena at Mercer. "I am yet to see a company in the UAE – particularly when you are looking at a blue chip multinationals or some of the bigger local companies – that actively discriminates when it comes to gender on pay."
Mr Raffoul said most gender issues are actually due to the cultural class, as the population is dominated by Asian and Arab cultures where men are generally expected to work and earn whereas women are meant to start a family.
"For that reason, we see a different gender gap. There are less women in senior roles because women tend to focus less on this but that’s not due to any companies having a policy penalising women for any reasons – it’s a cultural thing," he said.
As a result, Mr Raffoul said many companies in the UAE are coming up with benefit package programmes to help working mothers and the career development of women in general.
