Dubai’s DIFC sees boost from US, European firms

Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) Authority, the firm running the emirate’s tax-free business park, said Monday that 64 companies joined the free zone in the first half of the year.  

The total number of companies operating in the free zone hit 813 by the end of June, a rise of eight percent, as increased interest from Asian, European and American firms bolstered registrations.

Half of new companies were from Europe and North America, while Middle East and Asian firms comprised 44 percent of new registrations, DIFCA said at a media event in Dubai.

Dubai International Financial Centre said last week that gross domestic product rose 5.2 percent in 2010 to $2.92bn from $2.77bn in 2009. The business centre contributed 3.6 percent to Dubai’s $81.96bn income and about one percent to the UAE economy, it said in its annual report.

The free zone’s public administrative sector, which accounts for 1.5 percent of total GDP in the free zone and primarily represents the DIFC Authority, declined 20.3 percent to $43.5m.

Abdulla Mohammed Al Awar, CEO of the DIFC Authority, said the company had returned to growth in 2011 after a decline in economic activity last year.

“We expect productivity to rise [in 2011]… We have finished the business strategy and we have shared it with the staff and we are well on our way,” he said.

Al Awar said it was “difficult to estimate numbers” in the year-to-date, but told Arabian “the indicators are positive” and he was hopeful of double-digit growth in 2011.

Dr. Nasser Saidi, chief economist at the DIFC Authority, said last week the number of staff employed in the free zone had declined slightly to 11,331 in 2010 with most job losses within the authority and public administrative sector.

Al Awar said employment rates were now on the rise and total staff numbers now topped 12,000.

The firm continued to grow despite regional unrest and a continued global economic downturn, he said.

Dubai, the Gulf’s trade and tourism hub, has benefited from being seen as a safe haven amid the Arab Spring political unrest. The UAE has sidestepped the revolts that have toppled governments in Tunisia and Egypt and led to violence in Libya, Yemen, Syria and Bahrain.