Dubai Economy issues 42,640 new licences in 2020

Dubai’s Department of Economic Development (Dubai Economy) said on Tuesday that it had issued 42,640 new licences in 2020, an increase of 4 per cent from the 40,891 new ones issued in 2019.

Last year, 64 per cent of the new licences were professional (27,307), 35 per cent were commercial (14,754) and the rest were within the tourism and industrial sectors, stated a report of Dubai Economy’s Business Registration & Licensing (BRL) division.

Bur Dubai accounted for the largest share (22,276) of new licences followed by Deira (20,293), and Hatta (71).

The top sub-regions were: Al Khabaisi, Al Fahidi, Al Garhoud, Trade Centre 1, Burj Khalifa, Port Saeed, Oud Al Muteena 3, Oud Metha, and Hor Al Anz East.

Also, 346,375 business registration and licensing transactions were completed in 2020, a 3 per cent increase over 2019 (337,752).

Apart from new licences, licence renewals accounted for 162,762 transactions in 2020, a 15 per cent growth over 2019 (141,788).

Auto Renewal via text messages accounted for 92,576 transactions in 2020, a 36.5 per cent growth from 2019 (67,813). The number of Trade Name Reservations reached 51,170, Initial Approvals totalled 40,932, and Commercial Permits reached 10,680.

#Dubai’s Department of Economic Development (@Dubai_DED) announces that it issued 42,640 new licenses in 2020, an increase of 4% from the 40,891 new licenses issued in 2019.https://t.co/PBiQGiewWs pic.twitter.com/tWk9rCS3L7

— Dubai Media Office (@DXBMediaOffice) January 12, 2021

Last week, Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and Chairman of the Executive Council of Dubai, announced a fresh Dhs315m economic stimulus package.

The fifth economic stimulus package announced in recent months, the total value of business incentives introduced by the emirate’s government has increased to Dhs7.1bn.

Read: Sheikh Hamdan announces Dhs315m economic stimulus package for Dubai

The stimulus package extends the validity of some of the initiatives announced in the previous packages for another six months until June 2021 and even included provisions for commercial licences to be renewed without lease contracts.