U.A.E.'s Drive for Emirati-Run Economy Is Thwarted by Handouts
By Matthew Brown
Oct. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum,
prime minister of the United Arab Emirates, envisions his country
as a world-class financial hub run by Emiratis. Government
financial support is undermining that goal.
All 800,000 Emirati citizens get free education and health
care, and subsidized utilities. Emirati men can claim free land
and no-interest loans to build homes. Other benefits include a
$19,000 payment toward wedding costs.
The handouts, based on traditions of royal patronage dating
back centuries to Bedouin society, now discourage citizens from
working, academics say. Expatriates outnumber Emiratis and
dominate fields such as banking, law and technology. The quandary
for Sheikh Mohammed is how to reduce the culture of dependence
without alienating his people.
``The relationship between work and income is broken,'' says
Kenneth Wilson, Dubai-based director of the Economic and Policy
Research Unit at Zayed University, a school for Emirati women
that opened in 1998. ``That's unlikely to change until the
government starts trying to give incentives to work in the
private or corporate sector.''
Thanks largely to the country's oil-fueled economic boom,
the average male Emirati receives benefits worth about 204,000
dirhams ($55,500) a year, according to the university's research.
Khalid Saeed, 30, is building a villa on a 15,000 square-
foot plot of land he received free from the government.
Saeed, who has a bachelor's degree from U.A.E. University
and a master's from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, is
living with his parents until his villa is built. Their house
sits on a 40,000-square-foot plot, and has enough room for Saeed,
his wife and three daughters, as well as his brother and his
wife. Rooms at the back are rented out to Asian workers.
Full story here.------
If you're remotely interested in the middle east, you've got to read the article (check out the pictures too). I've been meaning to write about this issue, but never got around doing it. As much as I love the Emirates, their policies are seriously flawed when it comes to treatment of citizens v/s expatriates. Okay, need to get back to psetting.