Dubai / Emirates Business Aafaq Islamic Finance, in collaboration with Mastercard, has launched unique Sharia-compliant credit cards, boosting its retail segment and capturing the growing credit card market in the country. Aafaq’s retail business expansion is in response to the increasing demand for Sharia-compliant banking products and services in the country, where over 50% of customers use Islamic banking products. ...

ABU DHABI / WAM According to statistics from the Ministry of Finance, the UAE’s total spending on social benefits in 2018 amounted to AED65.74 billion, accounting for 16.8 percent of government spending. This figure highlights the importance of social development to the agendas of the federal government and local governments, in line with the UAE Vision 2021 and the country’s ...

Dubai / Emirates Business The non-oil private sector in Dubai continued to post a marked expansion of total business activity in June, with the rate of growth accelerating further to a new high since the survey began in 2010, according to Emirates NBD Dubai Economy Tracker Index. Among the three key sectors monitored, the strongest overall performance was again registered ...