Investor confidence in Dubai as a competitive global hub and the business development potential in the emirate remained robust, with the Department of Economic Development (DED) witnessing 1,651 new licenses in July 2018
In addition, DED witnessed 12,532 license renewals and 2,175 initial approvals in July 2018, according to data recorded on the ?Business Map? digital platform of DED?s business registration and licensing (BRL) sector.
Overall business registration and licensing (BRL) activity and its distribution across sectors and areas in the emirate reaffirm improved investor confidence in the expansionary spending policies and growth potential in Dubai.
Among the total transactions recorded in July 2018, about 3,128 were related to trade name reservation and 1,268 to commercial permits. Auto-renewal transactions amounted to 5,918 and instant licenses to 101. About 102 transactions were related e-trader licenses.
BRL activity in July 2018 reflected momentum across all sectors as new licenses covered the commercial (60.5 per cent), professional (36.8 per cent), tourism (1.4 per cent) and industrial (1.3 per cent) categories. The outsourced service centres of DED retained their edge in providing competitive services to BRL customers, accounting for 67 per cent of the total transactions completed in July 2018.
The region-wise distribution of new licenses shows Bur Dubai accounted for the lion's share with 798 of the licenses, Deira had 712, New Dubai 133 and Hatta eight. Among the top 10 sub-regions, Burj Khalifa had 14 per cent, New Dubai eight per cent, Al Marar 5.9 per cent, Port Saeed 5.8 per cent, Dubai World Trade Centre 1 had 4.6 per cent, Naif four per cent, Al Garhoud 3.3 per cent, Al Karama 2.8 per cent, Al Muraqabat 2.1 per cent and Hor Al Anz 2.1 per cent.
Construction sector accounted for 17.3 per cent of the new licenses and community and personal services for 13.6 per cent, followed by Hotels group (seven per cent), transport, storage and communications (3.5 per cent), manufacturing, (2.9 per cent), financial brokerage (2.5 per cent), health, labour and education (0.9 per cent), agriculture (0.4 per cent) and mining (0.1 per cent).
Indians, Pakistanis, Egyptians, Chinese, British, Saudis, Jordanians, Syrians and Kuwaitis were the top nine nationalities of BRL customers in that order during July 2018.
