Economy

UAE rolls out plan to invest in economy, liberalize laws – CTV News

Published

3 years ago

September 6, 2021

DUBAI, UAE —
The United Arab Emirates announced on Sunday a major plan to stimulate its economy and liberalize stringent residency rules for foreigners, as the country seeks to overhaul its finances and attract visitors and investment.

The nation’s plan to lure foreign talent over the next decades reflects an emerging contrast with the other sheikhdoms of the Persian Gulf that are growing increasingly protectionist as they try to diversify their oil-bound economies.

Now marking its 50th anniversary, the UAE is seeking to accelerate its economic and social reforms to rebrand for a post-pandemic future. Portraying the country as a liberal, bustling trade and finance hub, the government promised to pour $13.6 billion into the economy in the next year and $150 billion by 2030.

Specific projects have yet to be announced, but $1.36 billion has been earmarked for Emirates Development Bank to support the industrial sector.

“We are building the new 50 years’ economy,” Abdulla bin Touq, the economy minister, said in an interview, adding that free trade and openness have long made UAE a major global entrepot. “Anyone who is trying to be more conservative and trying to close their markets, the value is going to be only in the short term, but in the long term, they’re harming their economies.”

Friction has grown between the UAE and its heavyweight neighbor Saudi Arabia, which has taken a different strategy under the young and brash Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.

In a push to prepare for a post-oil future, the Saudi government has announced billions of dollars of investments in far-flung tourist projects and tried to diminish the role of expats to get more Saudis working in the private sector.

Buried within the raft of the UAE’s flashy economic development initiatives on Sunday was a far more practical — and drastic — change to the country’s visa system that governs the legions of foreign workers from Africa, the Middle East and elsewhere who power the country’s economy.

Since the UAE’s independence, the state has tied employment to residency status, lending employers outsized power and forcing people to immediately leave the country once they lost their jobs.

“We want to rebuild the whole system … so that the residency system is attracting people and making sure they feel the UAE is home for them,” bin Touq said. “Openness is something which we’re proud of.”

The new plans give residents an additional three months to seek other jobs after being fired, allow parents to sponsor their children’s visas until the age of 25, and ease visa restrictions on freelancers, widows and divorced people, among other things. It’s a subtle shift from the Gulf Arab state’s traditional way of treating its vast foreign labor force as an expendable underclass.

Ministers also said they sought to double the UAE’s economy in the next decade through major trade agreements with countries including Turkey, the United Kingdom and India, as well as Israel after a recent breakthrough deal to normalize relations.

The new projects come as the UAE reels from the economic shock of the pandemic, which triggered the collapse of oil prices and crucial tourism markets when lockdowns strangled business and authorities cut spending.

The country’s economy shrank 6.1 per cent last year, according to government data, with credit agencies estimating that the tourist hub of Dubai saw an even sharper decline of 11 per cent.

As the virus wrought havoc, with layoffs rippling across the economy and prompting an exodus of foreign workers, authorities last year introduced a series of reforms to draw more people and capital.

The UAE offered wealthier expats the chance to retire in Dubai, rolled out a 10-year “golden visa” to professionals and their families, and passed a new law to allow 100% foreign ownership of companies outside economic free zones.

Although such dramatic announcements have become common in the federation of seven sheikhdoms, the government has offered few details about how and when it will deliver on its promises.

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Economy

Minimum wage to hire higher-paid temporary foreign workers set to increase

Published

2 days ago

October 21, 2024

Anne Joseph

OTTAWA – The federal government is expected to boost the minimum hourly wage that must be paid to temporary foreign workers in the high-wage stream as a way to encourage employers to hire more Canadian staff.

Under the current program’s high-wage labour market impact assessment (LMIA) stream, an employer must pay at least the median income in their province to qualify for a permit. A government official, who The Canadian Press is not naming because they are not authorized to speak publicly about the change, said Employment Minister Randy Boissonnault will announce Tuesday that the threshold will increase to 20 per cent above the provincial median hourly wage.

The change is scheduled to come into force on Nov. 8.

As with previous changes to the Temporary Foreign Worker program, the government’s goal is to encourage employers to hire more Canadian workers. The Liberal government has faced criticism for increasing the number of temporary residents allowed into Canada, which many have linked to housing shortages and a higher cost of living.

The program has also come under fire for allegations of mistreatment of workers.

A LMIA is required for an employer to hire a temporary foreign worker, and is used to demonstrate there aren’t enough Canadian workers to fill the positions they are filling.

In Ontario, the median hourly wage is $28.39 for the high-wage bracket, so once the change takes effect an employer will need to pay at least $34.07 per hour.

The government official estimates this change will affect up to 34,000 workers under the LMIA high-wage stream. Existing work permits will not be affected, but the official said the planned change will affect their renewals.

According to public data from Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada, 183,820 temporary foreign worker permits became effective in 2023. That was up from 98,025 in 2019 — an 88 per cent increase.

The upcoming change is the latest in a series of moves to tighten eligibility rules in order to limit temporary residents, including international students and foreign workers. Those changes include imposing caps on the percentage of low-wage foreign workers in some sectors and ending permits in metropolitan areas with high unemployment rates.

Temporary foreign workers in the agriculture sector are not affected by past rule changes.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 21, 2024.

— With files from Nojoud Al Mallees

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Economy

PBO projects deficit exceeded Liberals’ $40B pledge, economy to rebound in 2025

Published

6 days ago

October 17, 2024

Anne Joseph

OTTAWA – The parliamentary budget officer says the federal government likely failed to keep its deficit below its promised $40 billion cap in the last fiscal year.

However the PBO also projects in its latest economic and fiscal outlook today that weak economic growth this year will begin to rebound in 2025.

The budget watchdog estimates in its report that the federal government posted a $46.8 billion deficit for the 2023-24 fiscal year.

Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland pledged a year ago to keep the deficit capped at $40 billion and in her spring budget said the deficit for 2023-24 stayed in line with that promise.

The final tally of the last year’s deficit will be confirmed when the government publishes its annual public accounts report this fall.

The PBO says economic growth will remain tepid this year but will rebound in 2025 as the Bank of Canada’s interest rate cuts stimulate spending and business investment.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 17, 2024.

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Economy

Statistics Canada says levels of food insecurity rose in 2022

Published

7 days ago

October 16, 2024

Anne Joseph

OTTAWA – Statistics Canada says the level of food insecurity increased in 2022 as inflation hit peak levels.

In a report using data from the Canadian community health survey, the agency says 15.6 per cent of households experienced some level of food insecurity in 2022 after being relatively stable from 2017 to 2021.

The reading was up from 9.6 per cent in 2017 and 11.6 per cent in 2018.

Statistics Canada says the prevalence of household food insecurity was slightly lower and stable during the pandemic years as it fell to 8.5 per cent in the fall of 2020 and 9.1 per cent in 2021.

In addition to an increase in the prevalence of food insecurity in 2022, the agency says there was an increase in the severity as more households reported moderate or severe food insecurity.

It also noted an increase in the number of Canadians living in moderately or severely food insecure households was also seen in the Canadian income survey data collected in the first half of 2023.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct 16, 2024.

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