Abu Dhabi, Dubai (BBN)-The New World Wealth Index report shows that the oil-rich UAE and in particular Dubai is the main luxury hub in the Middle East.
It generated luxury sales of approximately $6 billion in 2014.
This includes luxury cars, personal luxury goods (inclusive of clothing, accessories, watches and jewelry) and luxury hotels, reports Fibre2fashion.
The report says Dubai is a hub for luxury clothing and accessory stores.
The bulk of these stores are located in the Dubai Mall and the Mall of the Emirates.
Based on a NW-Wealth survey conducted in June 2014, the top 10 luxury selling brands in the UAE include: Cartier, Chanel, Gucci, Hermes, Ralph Lauren, Christian Louboutin, Dior, Prada, Fendi and Dolce & Gabbana.
Other popular brands include: Armani, Hugo Boss, Paul Smith, Tom Ford, Jimmy Choo and Valencia Shoes.
According to the NW-Wealth survey, Abu Dhabi is the wealthiest emirate in the UAE and accounts for over 50 per cent of the country’s GDP.
The bulk of this comes for oil and gas revenues.
Dubai, the second wealthiest emirate, accounts for 22 per cent of the UAE’s GDP.
The largest sector in Dubai is real estate & construction which accounts for 23 per cent of Dubai’s GDP, followed by trade (16 per cent) and financial services (11 per cent). Notably, oil & gas only accounts for only 7 per cent of Dubai’s GDP.
The UAE is the 3rd largest economy in the Middle East with an estimated annual GDP of $420 billion for 2014.
It ranks behind Turkey and Saudi Arabia.
The UAE is well-endowed with energy resources. It has the 7th largest oil reserves in the world and is the world’s 8th largest oil producer. It is also a major producer of natural gas.
Oil and gas is the largest domestic sector, accounting for 37 per cent of UAE’s GDP in 2014. Other major sectors include trade (19 per cent), real estate and construction (15 per cent) and financial services (7 per cent) according to the IMF World Economic Outlook.
The country’s major export partners in 2014 included Japan (24 per cent of exports), India (17 per cent), Singapore (8 per cent), South Korea (8 per cent) .
Major export products for the year included crude petroleum (46 per cent), refined petroleum (13 per cent), gold (9 per cent) and petroleum gas (7 per cent).
Investment in Dubai has been spurred by the development of free zones, with the largest and most high-profile of the free zones being Dubai’s Jebel Ali Free Zone (Jafza), which hosts over 6,000 companies from more than 100 countries.