Dubai trade permits up 7.3%

Dubai - Q3 data show healthy growth of emirate's business sector

dubai - The number of trade permits issued in Dubai rose substantially in the third quarter of 2015, an indication of burgeoning and robust growth of business activities.
Dubai's Department of Economic Development, or DED, issued 138,260 licences in the quarter, up 7.3 per cent from last year's 128,846.
Omar Bu Shahab, executive director of the Registration and Trade Licensing Sector at the DED, said the growth underlined the flexibility of the procedures pursued by the DED in issuing trade permits on promotional offers and sales, as well as the increase in the volume of the market, which has not been affected by the number of the consumers, and prompt trading companies to get permits to practice promotional activities.
"Dubai continues galvanising its prestigious position as an investment and trade destination, which is preferred regionally and globally, thanks to its competitive essentials, vital and diversified economic atmosphere," he said, noting the advanced legislative and legal system comes at the forefront of these essentials as the emirate provides effective and flexible full-fledged services.
Permits for launching promotional campaigns stood at 731 of the total in the third quarter of 2015, a growth of 22.2 per cent compared with 598 in the same period last year.
According to a breakdown of figures released by the department, advertising campaigns ranged variably from ad billboards that branched off from trade name ads, print media, online ads, internal roads ads, canvas signboard ads, and trade brand ads, among others, which are subsumed under this category. These accounted for 95,776 in the third quarter, and rose by 2.9 per cent compared with the same period last year.
Figures released in a report issued by the DED showed a 6.9 per cent drop in the number of trade fairs during the third quarter with 40 exhibitions compared with 43 last year.
Sales, special offers and clearances also fell by 12.6 per cent in the third quarter this year compared to the same period in 2014.
The report attributed the reason to trade companies, which focused on the summer promotion offers as the third quarter fell in the hot season - the seasonal period - so summer offers rose 21.4 per cent.
However, the rise of 7.3 per cent in the trade permits this year is due to the efforts being made by the DED in practicing trade and business in the emirate, and its on-going endeavour to push forward the wheel of the economic development, and chart out polices of economic growth and development in Dubai.
- salah@khaleejtimes.com