Dubai: The Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) yesterday issued its fifth annual Economic Activity Survey Report which showed that the GDP of the centre’s sub-economy grew 7 per cent to $3.13 billion (Dh11.49 billion) in 2011 from $2.92 billion in 2010.
The report estimates the DIFC’s contribution to the UAE’s non-hydrocarbon GDP is approximately 1.4 per cent. “The report highlights DIFC’s advancement as a global hub of finance and business. We are confident that DIFC will continue to be a catalyst of growth for the region, by providing a platform of world-class infrastructure for financial and business institutions to extend their reach and access new economies,” said Abdullah Mohammed Al Awar, CEO of DIFC Authority.
The survey, undertaken by the DIFC Economics team, is based on international best practices in national accounting, and measures output, intermediate consumption and ultimately the gross value added produced within the DIFC district by entities registered in the Centre.
Some 66.4 per cent of DIFC’s client base responded to the survey which represents an increase of 11.2 per cent in the number of reporting entities compared to last year’s survey. The total number of companies based at the Centre increased by 5.7 per cent in 2011.
The breakdown of DIFC’s GDP by sector shows that financial activities remain the biggest contributor accounting for 70.3 per cent of total value added, while business services accounted for 28 per cent, with the rest attributed to public administration, which includes the DIFC Authority, the DFSA and the DIFC Courts.
The latest report included data on the reported total assets of the DIFC sub-economy as of 2011 which were estimated at around $115 billion. It also places the paid-up capital of DIFC registered entities at $29.5 billion as of end of 2011.
A survey of DIFC workforce, which tracks the employment growth in DIFC as well as the quality, distribution and average pay for its diverse work force, shows that number of employees within the DIFC community grew by 14 per cent to reach 12,945 full time employees of which men represented 65.5 per cent.
In 2011, 88 per cent of DIFC’s international, diverse and highly skilled work force was university graduates and post-graduates. The percentage of UAE nationals working in the DIFC was a stable proportion of the total at 2.2 per cent.
