Business | Economy
Emcredit to publish quarterly reports
Emcredit announced on Sunday it plans to publish quarterly "credit-related" economic indicators.
- By Ahmed A. Namatalla, Staff Reporter
- Published: 22:54 July 5, 2009
Abu Dhabi: Emcredit announced on Sunday it plans to publish quarterly "credit-related" economic indicators.
The Dubai Government-owned credit bureau said it is finalising a report titled 'Q1-2009 Business Activity Report' to be issued later this summer, to be followed by more reports gauging credit risk indicators and employment figures.
The issuance of regular periodic economic reports is still a work-in-progress at the local and federal levels. Many vital economic figures such as quarterly GDP growth rates and inflation data tend to be released in official speeches and government press releases.
"Right now, GDP numbers are far too delayed, and we don't get unemployment information on a regular basis," said Robert McKinnon, managing director of the Dubai-based Al Mal Capital.
"That type of information would be very helpful. When you can assess risk then you can feel comfortable when times are less certain and the cost of capital goes down," he added.
An Emcredit official was not available for comment on the details of the data planned to be released by the company.
In a statement, Emcredit managing director Ali Ebrahim said the company plans to gather information from a variety of places including banks, the government and law enforcement.
Established in late 2006, Emcredit became the UAE's first, and so far, only credit bureau.
The company initially met some resistance from the banking sector but has since grown to hold 30 per cent of the country's mortgage data and 5.6 million individual identification records.
The Cabinet recently approved the transformation of Emcredit into a federal bureau.
"The issue is going to be credibility of the numbers, and that's always the issue," said McKinnon. "I am talking about the actual statistical validity of the numbers. The market is going to want to know how they collect the data and how they account for abnormalities."
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