Sheikh Khalifa being greeted by Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed. File / WAM

Gulf Today Report

Upon the directives of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, His Highness Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi and Deputy Supreme Commander of the UAE Armed Forces and Chairman of the Executive Council of Abu Dhabi, has ordered the disbursement of housing loans worth over Dhs7 billion to 6,100 citizens in Abu Dhabi, and exempting retired low-income citizens from repaying the loans.

The approval of the loans and exemptions, which is part of the 2020 housing packages of Dhs15.5 billion, coincides with the celebrations of the 49th National Day, in light of the keenness of the UAE’s leadership to maintain social stability and ensure decent living standards for citizens, as well as reinforcing their role in the country’s development process.

This year, approvals were issued for more than 5,000 housing loans, reflecting the keenness of Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed to promote the Abu Dhabi government accelerator programme, Ghadan 21, and double housing loans for UAE citizens.

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In July this year, Sheikh Mohamed had ordered the disbursement of housing loans worth Dhs2.78 billion to 1,976 citizens in Abu Dhabi, exempting retired low-income citizens from paying back the loans.

The approval of the second batch of housing loans in 2020 for 1,500 citizens and the loan payment exemption for 476 retired low-income citizens coincide with Eid Al Adha, in light of the keenness of the UAE’s leadership to maintain social stability and ensure decent living standards for citizens, as well as reinforce their role in the country’s development process.

In December last year, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai His Highness Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum has ordered the exemption of financially distressed citizens, whose monthly income is below Dhs15,000 and families of deceased citizens, from repaying the remainder of housing loans to the Sheikh Zayed Housing Programme.

The order by Sheikh Mohammed aims to alleviate the financial burdens of financially distressed families, which reflects positively on the social and economic stability of the families.

According to the 2020 InterNations Expat City Ranking, Abu Dhabi has come to 10 out of 66 cities. The survey was conducted on a large scale, and more than 15,000 expats took part in the survey.

People from 173 nationalities took part in the survey rating more than 25 aspects of urban life abroad, including quality of life, getting settled, finance and housing.

This is not the first time that Abu Dhabi has been ranked globally. Recently, as per the outlook index, the city jumped 13 places to significantly enhance its position from 20th to the 7th ranking in the prestigious “outlook index” of the Global Cities Report (GCR) released by management consulting firm Kearney.

Not only Abu Dhabi, but Dubai also has secured the rank of the 27th most competitive city in the world. The list is based on the emirate’s performance in terms of business activity, human capital, information exchange, cultural experience and political engagement.