Dubai free zone cuts fees by 70%
dubai — Dubai World Trade Centre Authority (DWTCA), a free zone offering offshore licenses to businesses, on Monday slashed licensing and incorporation fees as well as immigration-related service fees for the existing and new companies in order to overcome challenges related to high costs for companies.
A statement issued by the free zone said the fee for registration and licensing has been reduced between 50 to 70 per cent and between 40 to 50 per cent on immigration related service, depending on the size of the company.
Mayank Sawhney, managing director, MaxGrowth Consulting, said the sentiments are now low and all these measures of reducing different fees are being taken to improve investor sentiment and lower the cost of doing business.
“Because small businesses are not able to cope up with the costs so the government is reducing fee to lower the burden of visas and other costs. When businesses are operating here, the economy circulates and grows. Ultimately, the beneficiary of these initiatives will be small and medium scale businesses,” Sawhney said.
“Similarly, Abu Dhabi is also issuing home licences so you can op- erate from home and don’t need an office. All these measures by Dubai and Abu Dhabi are aimed at running the business more cost-effec- tively. These steps are in the right direction to ensure that businesses don’t shut down,” he added.
Of late, the free zones in UAE have been announcing a number of initiatives following the instruction of the government to help the companies tide over economic and financial challenges. Dr Mohammed Alzarooni, vice-chairman and CEO of DSOA and director-general of Dafza, told Khaleej Times in an interview in April that Dubai Silicon Oasis and Dubai Airport Free Zone were also considering reducing the fees.
Helal Saeed Almarri, directorgeneral, DWTCA, said these commercial propositions are designed to support the government’s mandate on reducing fees to scale down the cost of doing business for the private sector and to offer a viable ecosystem that supports sustainable, long-term success, as well as attracts regional and global headquarters to consolidate and relocate their operations at considerable scale to Dubai. “The significant reductions in licensing and incorporation fees further support The Executive Council of Dubai’s recently announced wideranging policy measures, and will collectively increase the competitiveness of, and the ease of doing business within the DWTCA free zone,” he said.
In addition, the recent announcements by the UAE government to allow 100 per cent foreign ownership in mainland is putting free zones under pressure to come up with novel and innovative initiatives to retain existing tenants and attract more companies because full foreign ownership was one of the biggest advantages offered by the free zones in the country. Earlier this month, the Department of Economic Development (DED) in Dubai announced a host of measures for businesses including paying fees and fines in installments
These commercial propositions are designed to support the government’s mandate on reducing fees to scale down the cost of doing business for the private sector Helal Saeed Almarri, DG, DWTCA
The sentiments are now low and all these measures of reducing different fees are being taken to improve investor sentiment and lower the cost of doing business Mayank Sawhney, MD, MaxGrowth Consulting