United Arab Emirates

The economy will lose some steam in 2019. An increase in government spending – especially large investments in infrastructure as part of the preparations for the 2020 World Expo – will be the main driver, however the OPEC+ production cap will limit ...

While chocolate-based flavoured powder drinks is poised to remain by far the largest other hot drinks category in the United Arab Emirates over the forecast period, it is expected that its shares of overall retail volume and current value sales will ...

Overall volume and current value growth rates for hot drinks in the United Arab Emirates slowed slightly in 2019, mainly due to increasing maturity. Nonetheless, the market still performed strongly in both respects thanks to traditional consumption ...

Interest in speciality coffee is on the rise in the United Arab Emirates. This is partly the result of growing consumer exposure to more niche and sophisticated coffee varieties via specialist on-trade outlets with experiential concepts and in-store ...

The health and wellness trend continued to support robust in tea volume and current value sales in the United Arab Emirates in 2019, and is expected to remain one of the key drivers of demand and innovation in the category over the forecast period. ...

During mid-February 2019, the government of the United Arab Emirates announced that it was planning to lift the ban on the sale of e-vapour products in the country. This resulted in the ban be lifted in April, with a new set of standards developed by...

Volume sales declines accelerated in all categories of tobacco in the United Arab Emirates in 2018 as the recent introduction of 100% ad valorem tax on all tobacco products began to take effect. In addition, the introduction of 4.8% VAT at the start ...

The review period saw the introduction of various taxes on tobacco and this has been identified as a major reason for the declining volume sales being seen in cigarettes. Excise taxes were first introduced in 2012 and were set at AED50 per 1,000 ...

The 2017 introduction of excise tax calculated on an ad valorem resulted in major declines being seen in all categories in 2018, including cigars, cigarillos, smoking tobacco, but tobacco and fine cut tobacco. The main reason for this is that that ...

Card lending remains a popular type of lending for consumers in the United Arab Emirates as banks develop stronger partnerships across various service providers in retail and other services to offer cashback and discounts on transactions. For ...

Consumer lending showed a marked improvement in its gross lending current value growth rate in 2019, although outstanding balance current value growth remained at a similar level to a year earlier. The consumer lending performance benefited from an ...

Although overall transaction value will increase slightly over the forecast period, the number of charge cards in circulation as well as transaction volume on these cards will both decline. Personal charge cards will have a particularly bad time of ...

With reward platforms becoming increasingly competitive, banks are offering innovative products and working more closely with merchant partners. Most credit cards come with a predesigned rewards structure and offer cashback, miles or loyalty reward ...

The United Arab Emirates has continued to attract expats with better job prospects than they might find in many other countries in the region or in their home markets. Economic diversification has led to continued job growth in the country, and this ...

Card payments continue to rise in the United Arab Emirates, with consumers using both cards as well as contactless payment methods to make payments more frequently and for smaller transactions. Economic indicators remain positive, with rising real ...

Both open loop and closed loop pre-paid cards grew steadily during 2019. Salary pre-paid cards play an important role in pre-paid cards. These are used as a payroll administration tool and wages protection system for blue-collar workers in the ...

There are currently no store cards in the United Arab Emirates. They are not expected to appear over the forecast period....

The economic slowdown in the United Arab Emirates led to a slowdown in packaging categories including food, beauty and personal care, soft drinks and home care. This forced companies to seek alternative ways to drive sales such as offering larger ...

The Middle East and Africa (MEA) is home to greatly differing economies, with the countries of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) being among the richest globally in terms of GDP per capita, while many Sub-Saharan markets belong to the poorest ...

The first line of medicine for common ailments such as pain, fever, and flu symptoms in the United Arab Emirates continued to be analgesics at the end of the review period. It is highly common to find analgesics such as Panadol or Brufen in a ...