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During the year’s first quarterly meeting with the CEOs of the largest banks operating in the UAE, the governor of the central bank stated that the overall liquidity of the UAE banking system has returned to the level prior to the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Abdulhamid M. Saeed Alahmadi, Governor of the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE), said that the UAE’s economy will recover this year with an increase in real GDP of 2.5 percent, thanks in part to the crucial role played by the Targeted Economic Support Scheme (TESS) in mitigating the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“In tandem with the banking sector, we pave the way for the UAE’s robust economic recovery from the pandemic. Our base projection envisages recovery of the UAE economy in 2021 with the real GDP to increase by 2.5 percent. [The] CBUAE will continue to closely monitor market and economic developments both in the UAE and globally,” the governor said.
"The banks’ drawdown of the dedicated TESS zero-cost liquidity facility was AED 22 billion in March 2021, down from the maximum drawdown of about AED 44 billion reached in Q2 2020, consistent with the temporary nature of the payment deferral scheme," he said.
According to a statement from the central bank, from the inception of the TESS programme, more than 320,000 customers, including individuals, small to medium-size enterprises and other private corporations have benefitted from it.
There are about 175,000 customers under the current TESS deferral arrangements.
(Reporting by Seban Scaria; editing by Daniel Luiz)
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