The Business Registration and Licensing (BRL) sector in the Department of Economic Development (DED), Dubai, issued 2,599 new licenses during May 2019, a growth of 50% compared to May 2018 (1,736). The new licenses created 8,348 jobs in the labor market. Among the new licenses issued, 54.7% were professional, 42.7% commercial, 1.8% related to tourism and 0.8% industry.

The ‘Business Map’ digital platform of DED, which seeks to reflect the economic realities in Dubai by providing vital data on each license category including their numbers and distribution on a monthly basis, saw 24,992 business registration and licensing transactions being completed during the month of May 2019, while the outsourced service centres of DED issued 17,983 transactions, a 72% of total transactions, thus demonstrating their vital role in delivering value-added services to the public in Dubai.

The report showed that License Renewal accounted for 11,133 transactions during May 2019, while 5,315 transactions were related to Auto Renewal via text messages, a 48% of total transactions. During the month of May 2019, the number of Trade Name Reservation was 3,676, while the number of Initial Approvals reached 3,086.

BRL also issued 187 instant licenses, which is issued in a single step without the need for either the MOA (Memorandum of Association) or an existing location for the first year only, while the number of DED Trader licenses during May 2019 reached 144 licenses.

The report also showed that the top nationalities who secured licenses in May 2019 were: Bangladesh followed by India, Pakistan, Egypt, Britain, China, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, The Philippines and Lebanon.

The report highlighted the distribution of the new licenses during May 2019 according to the main areas in Dubai, with Bur Dubai accounting for the largest share (1,582), followed by Deira (1,014), and Hatta (3). The top sub-regions that accounted for 61.2% of all the transactions were: Burj Khalifa (13.9%), Al Garhoud (9.7%), Al Fahidi (6.6%), Dubai World Trade Centre 1 (5.5%), Oud Metha (5.3%), Al Barsha 1 (5.2%), Al Marar (5.2%), Port Saeed (4.7%), Umm Al Ramoul (3.1%) and Naif (2%).

Real estate, leasing & business services accounted for 35% of the new licenses issued in May 2019 according to the distribution of economic activities, followed by Trade & repair services (28.6%), Community & personal services (13.3%), Building & Construction (9.8%), Transport, storage & communications (4.3%), Hotels group (3.7%), Manufacturing (1.9%), Financial brokerage (1.7%), Health & labour (1%), Education (0.4%), and Agriculture (0.3%).