Most UAE retailers expect growth next year - survey

Most retailers in the UAE expect reasonable growth in 2010, according to a new survey, after a year of struggle amid the impact of the global downturn.

More than 94 per cent of retailers who participated in the survey by Emirates Business said the sector would grow in 2010.

Of those, more than half of the retail giants questioned (55.5 percent), said the growth would be between five and 10 percent, the paper reported on Wednesday.

Almost 28 percent said they believed growth would be between 11-20 percent, and 11 percent said they were upbeat and put growth between 21-30 percent.

Only five percent said they believed there would be no growth at all next year.

A majority of the retailers in the survey said they has stayed in the black during 2009, reportedly the worst year for most businesses in the country.

In a previous survey published last month, more than 20 percent of major retailers in the UAE said they had seen sales slide by between 20-30 percent during the global economic slowdown.

And 22 percent of the leading retailers surveyed in the country said they had seen a 21-30 percent decline in spending this year.

In August, it was reported that a total of 45 percent of UAE consumers were confident the country would emerge from the recession in the next 12 months.

The figure, which comes from the Nielsen Global Consumer Confidence report for the second quarter, was an increase of 13 percent, compared to a previous survey conducted in March.

READERS' COMMENTS

MORE FROM ARABIANBUSINESS.COM