Arab News, Thursday, Jan 7, 2021 | Jamadi Al Awwal 23, 1442
Dubai launches fifth stimulus economic package to support businesses under pandemic
Emirates: The emirate of Dubai announced Wednesday its
fifth economic stimulus package in a bid to support economic and business
sectors affected by the coronavirus pandemic.
The latest package, which is worth 315 million dirhams, was announced in a tweet
by Dubai’s Crown Prince Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed.
The package extends the validity of some of the initiatives announced in the
previous stimulus packages for another six months, starting from January 2021
until June 2021.
The new package raises the value of business incentives introduced by the
emirate’s government to 7.1 billion dirhams.
Sheikh Hamdan said the step comes as part of Dubai’s government strategies to
meet global economic challenges posed the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The Dubai Government continues to assess the current global economic situation
and the various developments amid these exceptional circumstances to develop
practical strategies that will enable us to efficiently mitigate the
repercussions of the global pandemic on the economy,” he said.
“Despite the challenges imposed by the pandemic worldwide, our economy is
steadily recovering. We have the capabilities and resources that enable us to
achieve economic excellence and accelerate the recovery of our various business
sectors.
“We are confident the next phase will bring new opportunities for entrepreneurs
and investors.”
During the period between March and October of 2020, Dubai launched four
stimulus packages to reduce the impact of confinement measures in the emirate.
On Wednesday, the UAE announced 2,067 new coronavirus cases, bringing the total
number of recorded cases to 218,766. The country’s ministry of health also
recorded four deaths due to virus complications, bringing the total death toll
in the country to 689.
The ministry conducted 156,520 additional COVID-19 tests over the past 24 hours.