The Abu Dhabi Department of Economic Development (Added) has signed an agreement with four banks that will enable customers to pay fees charged by the entity in installments, further promoting the ease of doing business.
The easy payment plan signed with First Abu Dhabi Bank, Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank and Commercial Bank of Dubai will enable credit card holders to pay their fees between three months and 12 months, Added said.
The service, particularly designed to benefit smaller businesses by helping them manage their cash flows better, will include more lenders in the future, Ibrahim Al Mosa, executive director of the corporate support services sector at Added, said.
“We are committed to provide [the] best conditions for our customers and business community in Abu Dhabi. We have signed these agreements with leading UAE banks and will enlarge the base of banks."
Abu Dhabi's economy has recovered strongly from the Covid-19 pandemic, driven by robust government policies, including slashing business set-up fees by a massive 94 per cent to Dh1,000. That was part of a string of fee reductions to support businesses, increase its competitiveness and attract more investors.
In recent weeks, Added announced key indicators reflecting this performance. The emirate added 80 economic activities in 2021 spanning key sectors, bringing the total to 4,062, according to the department's Abu Dhabi Business Centre unit.
The number of new economic licences issued in Abu Dhabi, meanwhile, rose about 22 per cent last year to 25,427, according to a report by Added.
In February, the government entity also introduced Investor Journey, part of the Abu Dhabi Government Services Ecosystem, which unifies company set-up procedures to facilitate the ease of doing business.
Abu Dhabi's non-oil economy grew an annual 4.1 per cent in 2021, Statistics Centre–Abu Dhabi (SCAD) reported earlier this month.
The partnership between Added and the four lenders includes fees for issuing and renewing commercial and industrial licences at the department's centres and digital channels with a minimum value of Dh1,000.
The agreement will help companies' liquidity management, enabling them to sustain and streamline their businesses, Mr Al Mosa said.
“Liquidity management is very important to businesses and easy payment plans provide a good opportunity to business owners, particularly micro and small enterprises," he said.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
hall of shame
SUNDERLAND 2002-03
No one has ended a Premier League season quite like Sunderland. They lost each of their final 15 games, taking no points after January. They ended up with 19 in total, sacking managers Peter Reid and Howard Wilkinson and losing 3-1 to Charlton when they scored three own goals in eight minutes.
SUNDERLAND 2005-06
Until Derby came along, Sunderland’s total of 15 points was the Premier League’s record low. They made it until May and their final home game before winning at the Stadium of Light while they lost a joint record 29 of their 38 league games.
HUDDERSFIELD 2018-19
Joined Derby as the only team to be relegated in March. No striker scored until January, while only two players got more assists than goalkeeper Jonas Lossl. The mid-season appointment Jan Siewert was to end his time as Huddersfield manager with a 5.3 per cent win rate.
ASTON VILLA 2015-16
Perhaps the most inexplicably bad season, considering they signed Idrissa Gueye and Adama Traore and still only got 17 points. Villa won their first league game, but none of the next 19. They ended an abominable campaign by taking one point from the last 39 available.
FULHAM 2018-19
Terrible in different ways. Fulham’s total of 26 points is not among the lowest ever but they contrived to get relegated after spending over £100 million (Dh457m) in the transfer market. Much of it went on defenders but they only kept two clean sheets in their first 33 games.
LA LIGA: Sporting Gijon, 13 points in 1997-98.
BUNDESLIGA: Tasmania Berlin, 10 points in 1965-66
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COMPANY PROFILE
Founders: Sebastian Stefan, Sebastian Morar and Claudia Pacurar
Based: Dubai, UAE
Founded: 2014
Number of employees: 36
Sector: Logistics
Raised: $2.5 million
Investors: DP World, Prime Venture Partners and family offices in Saudi Arabia and the UAE
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
The specs
Engine: 4.0-litre V8 twin-turbocharged and three electric motors
Power: Combined output 920hp
Torque: 730Nm at 4,000-7,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch automatic
Fuel consumption: 11.2L/100km
On sale: Now, deliveries expected later in 2025
Price: expected to start at Dh1,432,000
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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