Dubai business sentiment remains strong, 69% growth in new licences issued

Dubai: As many as 55,194 new business licences were issued in Dubai during the first 10 months of this year, data published on Sunday showed.

This represents a 69 per cent growth compared to the same period last year, when 32,626 licenses were issued, a report by the Business Registration and Licensing sector at Dubai’s Department of Economy and Tourism said.

The data strongly underlines Dubai’s reputation of providing high-growth opportunities in various economic sectors and the growing confidence in the economy. It also points to Dubai’s success in managing the impact of COVID-19, the government’s agility in amending economic policies to drive economic growth, the low cost of doing business, and the easy procedures for starting businesses, all of which contributed to enhancing investor confidence in Dubai’s diversified economy.

According to the report, 59 per cent of the new business licences issued were professional, and 41 per cent were commercial. Bur Dubai accounted for the largest share (37,562) of new licences issued followed by Deira (17,572), and Hatta (60), while the top sub-regions during the first 10 months of 2021 were Al Fahidi, Burj Khalifa, Port Saeed, Al Marrar, Trade Centre 1, Qubaisi, Al Barsha 1, Naif, Al Garhoud and Al Karama.

Among the legal forms of the new licences issued, the report showed that sole establishment companies topped the list with 38 per cent, followed by limited liability companies with 28 per cent and civil companies with 24 per cent. The legal forms also included: one-person limited liability companies, branches of companies based in other emirates; branches of foreign companies; branches of free zone companies; branches of GCC companies, general partnership companies; public shareholding companies; and private joint-stock companies.

The report saw 233,908 business registration and licensing transactions being completed during the first 10 months of 2021, a growth of 17 per cent compared to the same period in 2020, when total transactions reached 199,888. The total number of renewal transactions reached 120,120, a growth of 3 per cent compared to the first 10 months of 2020 (117,030).

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