The Business Registration and Licensing (BRL) sector in the Department of Economic Development (DED), Dubai, issued 2,805 new licenses during April 2019, a growth of 60% compared to April 2018 (1,753). The new licenses created 8,375 jobs in the labor market. Among the new licenses issued, 49% were professional, 48.1% commercial, 2.3% related to tourism and 0.6% 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 29,813 business registration and licensing transactions being completed during the month of April 2019, a growth of 13% compared to April 2018 (26,393).

The report showed that License Renewal accounted for 13,140 transactions during April 2019, a growth of 3.8% compared to April 2018 (12,660), while 6,259 transactions were related to Auto Renewal via text messages, a growth of 85.2% compared to the same period in 2018 (3,380).

During the month of April 2019, the number of Trade Name Reservation was 4,513, a growth of 36.6% compared to April 2018 (3,305), while the number of Initial Approvals reached 3,664. BRL also issued 185 instant licenses, a growth of 112.6% compared to the same period in 2018 (87). The Instant License 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.

The outsourced service centres of DED issued 20,724 transactions in April 2019, thus demonstrating their vital role in delivering value-added services to the public in Dubai. The number of DED Trader licenses during April 2019 reached 166 license, a growth of 19.4% compared to the same period in 2018 (139).

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

The report highlighted the distribution of the new licenses during April 2019 according to the main areas in Dubai, with Deira accounting for the largest share (1,445), followed by Bur Dubai (1,357), and Hatta (3). The top sub-regions that accounted for 60.5% of all the transactions were: Al Garhoud (14.7%), Burj Khalifa (10.8%), Port Saeed (6.8%), Al Khabaisi (6.4%), Dubai World Trade Centre 1 (5.8%), Al Barsha 1 (4.3%), Umm Al Ramoul (3.6%), Al Marar (2.9%), Oud Metha (2.7%) and Naif (2.5%).

Trade & repair services accounted for 34% of the new licenses issued in April 2019 according to the distribution of economic activities, followed by Real estate, leasing & business services (27.8%), Community & personal services (11.6%), Building & Construction (11.2%), Transport, storage & communications (4.6%), Hotels group (4.3%), Manufacturing (2.4%), Financial brokerage (1.4%), Health & labour (1.2%), Education (1%), and Agriculture (0.5%).