In a recent announcement made by Sheikh Hamdan Bin Mohammed Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of Dubai’s Executive Council on Twitter, the government of Dubai announced a new stimulus package of AED 500 million to provide assistance and support to the private sector, which according to the Crown Prince’s own words “is a major partner in Dubai’s continued progress.”.
This fourth addition to the stimulus packages Dubai Government has been giving this year (the first two being in March for a total of
AED 4.8 billion and a third one in July for
AED 1.5 billion) brings the year’s total to
AED 6.8 billion; an unprecedented show of goodwill to help sectors of the economy that got deeply hit by this year’s COVID-19 outbreak.
The virus that originated in China in November last year and found its way to spread throughout the world in the first quarter of 2020 was not keen to leave Dubai out of the list, however, the city has proven once more its high capacity to adapt to new scenarios and that in addition to a rapid and swift response to the outbreak from its leaders has made this financial hub a beacon of hope to the world, showing that it is possible to control and live with this new virus when you have the proper leadership.
Sheikh Hamdan also remarked “(We) realise the pandemic has imposed great challenges on several business sectors at a global level, and our goal is to fully overcome these challenges locally and accelerate recovery to establish a new phase of economic growth”.
Here is the complete list of announcements, extensions and benefits:
- Cancellation of fines for late payment of government services fees
- No payments required on penalties for renewing commercial licenses
- A refund of half of the municipality fees charged to restaurants and hotels for sales (which is 7%).
- “Tourism Dirham Fee” being halved until the end of this year.
- Nurseries, clinics and healthcare professionals get a 6 months extension in their license from their date of expiry.
- Nurseries owned by the Knowledge Fund Establishment will also be eligible for a 50% reduction in rent until the end of the year.
- All deferral and cancellation fees for all recreational and sporting events, including exhibitions and conferences waiver also got an extension.
- Private schools are still exempted from commercial and educational licence renewal fees until the end of 2020.
- For traditional commercial vessels registered locally in the UAE there will be an exemption from docking fees at Dubai Port and Hamriya Port (direct and indirect loading fees included).
- Bank and cash guarantees paid by customs clearance companies will be refunded
- Fees on customs documents will remain reduced from Dhs50 to Dhs5 for each transaction.
- The requirement for providing a banking instrument when submitting customs-related grievances will remain cancelled.
- Freeze on fees charged for hotel rating, ticket sales, issuing permits and other government fees related to entertainment and business events has been extended until the end of 2020.
- Freezing of market fees for all sectors.
- Freezing of permit fees for the retail sector (until the end of November).
This extensions of support and benefits for the private sector have been granted until December in order to provide companies in the tourism, hospitality, healthcare and other private sectors a breath of fresh air in this turbulent year.
Sheikh Hamdan further said “We are working as a single integrated entity, and our primary goal is to accelerate the pace of recovery, protect the economy and cross these exceptional conditions with confidence in preparation for the next stage. The current situation requires consistent work plans to support all economic sectors and help them maintain their business continuity, especially the small and medium-sized enterprises, and other strategic sectors. We want to create a more flexible economic environment to easily adapt to global changes,”.
Dubai being open to tourism right now and with new measures put in place every month to keep the economy’s mechanisms and players healthy and strong (like the new retirement visa scheme or the one year remote working visa) are some of the ways in which Dubai’s leadership facilitated solutions and improvements for growth and development not only for the short term to welcome the new Israeli tourists and investors in light of the new peace and cooperation treaty but also for the long term when the highly expected and unfortunately rescheduled Expo 2020 launches in October 2021.
Without a doubt, the emirate is still showing it’s the safest place in the world, regardless of the nature of the threat.