The Department of the Cooperation Council for the Arab States of the Gulf Affairs has released the 7th edition of its Annual Statistical report on the Gulf Common Market (GCM).
UAE has maintained its position as the top investment destination for citizens of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). 1,899 new licenses were granted to GCC citizens during 2015 to practice economic activities.
On the list of economic activities, commercial licenses grabbed the first spot as 78.1% of the licenses granted in 2015 were commercial. Professional licenses come on second as they represented a ratio of 15.6% of the total permits.
Real Estate activity
During 2015, real estate activity saw a definite boost in UAE as 4,964 new properties registrations were done for GCC citizens. 66.3% of the bookings were for residential ownerships (3,290) while commercial registrations constituted 29.9% of the total share, amounting to 1,484 registrations.
According to the report, during the first nine months of 2015, direct GCC imports to UAE amounted to Dh12.4 billion. UAE’s direct exports to GCC member states totaled to Dh32.16 billion, and UAE’s re-exports amounted to Dh24.6 billion during the first nine months of 2015.
In 2015, some GCC industrial establishment operating in UAE amounted to 89 – 46 institutions were for KSA representing a share of 51.7% of the total establishments, 13 were for Oman with a share of 14.6%, 13.5% were for Kuwait, 11.2% for Bahrain and 9% for Qatar.
The report mentioned that industrial investment by Gulf in UAE amounted to Dh4.31 billion in the year 2015. The investment is distributed among different sectors which include: Dh1.8 billion for non-metallic mining industry (41.8%), Dh690 million for metal products (16.1%), Dh410 million for food & beverage industry (9.4%) and so on.
GCC tourists
The number of GCC tourists to UAE witnessed an extraordinary growth from 2010 to 2015 with a total of 4,185110 tourists in 2015.
The annual growth rate between 2010 and 2015 was 66.2%. Saudi tourists represented the largest ratio, 45.7% of the total GCC tourists were from Saudi Arabia. 32.9% were from Oman, 11.9% were from Kuwait, 5.6% from Qatar and 3.9% were Bahraini tourists.
In 2015, 964 GCC citizens were working in the federal government sector of UAE while 815 GCC citizens were working in the local government sector. In UAE’s private sector, 1,286 GCC citizens were working.
