Consumer Electronics to Boost UAE’s Retail Sector

A recent report predicts that UAE’s retail sector will register a growth in the following months. According to the United Arab Emirates Retail Report Q2 2013, published by Business Monitor International, one of the main factors that will lead to this development will be the country’s consumer electronics market.

UAE managed to take the third place in the Retail risk/reward rating for the Middle East and Africa region. The most impressive growth in the country’s retail industry is expected to be that of the consumer electronics. Moreover, this market is said to remain powerful over the next five years. During that period UAE’s consumer electronics sector will enjoy a large expansion. In addition, the sales in it will jump with over 63% by the year 2017. This means that the market will increase from its current $4.06 billion to $6.62 billion, or with more than $2.50 billion. One of the main factors influencing this expansion is the fact that the United Arab Emirates is among the biggest Gulf markets for consumer electronics. The country makes up nearly 40% of the total spending in the region.

The report also informs that some of the country’s projects for free trade zones may receive a support by the government. Among these projects is also the Dubai Internet City.

Also, it is predicted that the economy of the United Arab Emirates will also see a positive trend. According to the report, the country’s economy will register a 3.7% growth this year and a 3.8% growth in 2014. That is just a little lower from the expectations for a 3.9% expansion which were announced last year.

The macroeconomic outlook for the country is also positive, despite the major structural vulnerabilities. That is especially the case in Dubai. However, the study states that the business and consumer sentiment witnessed over the last few months went to extreme levels. In that way the country is said to remain blind to some important lessons which came after the turbulent year of 2009.

In 2013, Dubai is expected to perform better than Abu Dhabi. Nevertheless, UAE’s capital will remain economically strong. This difference between the two emirates was also seen last year. In 2012, Dubai’s tourism and hospitality sector outperformed that of Abu Dhabi. For example, the rates of hotel occupancy in Dubai for the previous year reached 80.2% on the average. In contrast, Abu Dhabi saw rates of 75.3%.

In addition, the outlook on the domestic economy has registered a steady rise over the past months. The increasing asset valuations are also predicted to aid the growth in household consumption in the next few quarters. The report predicts that this will be even more evident in Dubai.