UAE launches socio-economic indicators

Abu Dhabi Soci-economic Indicators

UAE's capital Abu Dhabi has launched a set of socio-economic indicators as it looks to lure more investment from overseas.

The indicators will, for the first time, provide monthly statistics on consumer confidence across Abu Dhabi, as well as quarterly data on the health of the emirate's business environment and financial sector.

Living standards, unemployment levels and the demand in the labour market will all be under the microscope with introduction of the indicators.

International best practice

Zawya reports that officials say they hope the supply of regular information on the economy will help to attract foreign investors by bringing the emirate up to "standards of international best practice" on data availability, while demonstrating a strong recovery from the global financial crisis.

"Businessmen and markets did not have a good base for decision-making. We said this vacuum should be filled and will continue producing new indicators," said Mohammed Omar Abdullah, the undersecretary of the DED.

"The importance of a supply of economic information is highlighted whenever there's a local or global financial crisis," said Dr Mahdi Mattar, the head of research and chief economist at Shuaa Capital.

Abu Dhabi's recovery "fully realised"

He added, "it means governments are able to make the right monetary or fiscal decisions and investors are able to make informed decisions on consumption of stocks and bonds."

So far the indicators have helped officials determine that Abu Dhabi's recovery from the global economic crisis has been "fully realised."

Consumer confidence and increased confidence in the government's ability to lead them out of crisis have also shown signs of improvement.

An indicator on confidence in the business environment, which is collated on a quarterly basis, also shows signs of improvement.

Business concerns

Despite the indicators also highlighting some concerns within the business world, Mr Abdullah said he expected levels of foreign direct investment to rise next year, "We are doing our best to attract FDI," he said.

"FDI is not only for inflow of money but to ensure a strategic partnership for the transfer of knowledge and know-how to allow us to build our businesses."

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