Dubai's DIFC Contributed 1% To UAE's GDP In 2010 -Official

Monday, Jul 18, 2011

DUBAI (Zawya Dow Jones)--The Dubai International Financial Centre's sub-economy contributed about 1% to the gross domestic product of the United Arab Emirates in 2010, a senior DIFC official said Monday.

"The generated total value added of DIFC sub-economy reached $2.915 billion in 2010... which is about 1% of U.A.E.'s GDP according to IMF estimations," Nasser Saidi, Chief Economist and Head of External Relations of DIFC said.

The financial free zone's contribution to Dubai's GDP was about 3.6%, he added at the launch of DIFC Economic Activity Survey for 2010.

DIFC, which competes with Bahrain and Qatar for the position of regional financial hub, last year slashed office rents in the free zone by around 50%, and promised to lower related business costs.

Saidi said the number of "active entities in DIFC rose 9.5% in 2010 compared to 2009 to reach 773".

-By Leila Hatoum, Dow Jones Newswires; +971-4-446-1686; leila.hatoum@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

18-07-11 0706GMT