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UAE attracting global wealth amid tariff uncertainty, say experts
It is projected that the country will add 30,000 millionaires in the next 5 years
- PUBLISHED: Tue 6 May 2025, 1:52 PM
- By:
- Waheed Abbas
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A lot of wealth is moving to the UAE as global investors increasingly focus on the Emirates and the region amidst global uncertainties and volatilities, experts and asset managers said at a conference on Tuesday.
Global economists said that the UAE economy is also insulated from the US tariffs due to lower tariffs and fewer exports to the United States.
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Saeed Al Awar, partner and head of Middle East, Rothschild & Co., said “a lot of wealth is moving to Dubai” as global investors diversify their portfolios.
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UAE attracted 7,200 millionaires last year, an increase of 53 per cent, according to Henley & Partners. These millionaires are not just investing, but relocating their wealth to UAE as they move with their families to enjoy the safety, security, and world-class lifestyle that UAE offers to residents.
It is projected that the UAE will add 30,000 millionaires in the coming years, according to Swiss bank UBS. In uncertain moments, investors always look for relative strength and safe haven, said Aloke Gupte, managing director and co-head of equity capital Markets, International (EMEA and APAC), JP Morgan, said.
"Over just the last five weeks, Dubai is amongst the three large global markets that are performing well."
The first $500 million IPO announcement, globally, since April 2, was made in Dubai. There's clearly been inflows into the market as well. So the signs are all there. The evidence is all there. There are multiple factors – ease of doing business, visionary leadership, and relentless focus on execution. Dubai is the market that has seen the highest CAGR growth year on year for the last five years,” said Gupte.
While speaking during a panel discussion at the Capital Market Summit in Dubai on Tuesday, he added that the combined market cap of Dubai Financial Market (DFM) and Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange (ADX) was $200 billion, around 10 years ago, which has now increased to over $1 trillion.
“That has been done with sector diversification, more listings. Many more companies will line up.”
While talking about the impact of the US tariffs, he added that Dubai and UAE have the benefit of having a lower threshold of 10 per cent as well as actually having very low exports to the US.
“I believe it's somewhere in the range of 2 per cent or so to the US. So from that standpoint, the economy is somewhat insulated as well. Structurally, global investors are still relatively under-invested in this market, because if you look at the UAE as a whole, it is only 2 per cent of the MSCI emerging market index. Numbers can only go up. I would fully expect local investors to be more invested here over the next five years. We've seen the signs already,” Gupte said during the panel discussion.
While speaking during the panel discussion, Al Awar added that the exchanges, in coordination with regulators, should take the initiative to bring family-owned businesses and big institutions such as sovereign wealth funds to invest in the local stock markets.
“What you need is not one asset manager. You need a whole breadth of asset managers that have different views in the market. And that is what creates liquidity,” he added.
