Percentage of debtors among UAE family heads in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi declined in 2015

The percentage of debtors among UAE family heads in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi has declined during 2015 for the second consecutive year to reach about 19.9 per cent on average from its previous rate of 24 per cent in 2014, according to the National Family Status Observatory’s 2015 report.

Issued by the Department of Economic Development in Abu Dhabi's, Studies Department as part of the developmental indexes of the Economic Performance Report of the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, the report is based on public opinion polls done by the Statistic Centre – Abu Dhabi (SCAD).

Commenting on these results, Khalifa bin Salem Al Mansoori, ADDED’s Deputy Undersecretary, said that the decline in the percentage of national heads of families who resort to personal loans reflects continued positive changes in the loan behavior of UAE nationals in terms of personal loans.

"This is the result of the several initiatives taken to raise the awareness of UAE nationals and help them rationalise their use of personal consumer loans, most important of which is the initiative of President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan, of establishing the UAE Debt Settlement Fund," said Al Mansoori.

The results of the National Family Status Observatory (NFSO) showed that in terms of the reasons why UAE family heads apply for loans in 2015, car loans were at the forefront as 46.8 per cent of the debtors in the sample answered. 34.8per cent of debtors in the same group said that they took loans to buy a house for the family. Other responders, with approximately equal percentages, said that they get loans for other reasons including travel, marriage, investment and others.

The result released by the National Family Status Observatory (NFSO) indicated that the general price index of goods has recorded about 73.9 points on average during 2015, rising from its 2014 percentage of 71.6per cent, which reflects an increased feeling amongst UAE families of the hike in prices.

According to the results, this hike applied to all the goods monitored by the Observatory. Regarding the levels recorded for sub-indexes in 2015, the feeling amongst heads of UAE families of the increase in prices was more towards the group of clothes and beauty products, followed by durable consumer goods, followed by foodstuff goods (grains, different kinds of meat, oils, dairy products and sugar).

Al Mansouri pointed out that this comes amid rising trends during most months of 2015 as traced by the Consumer Price Index in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi issued by the SCAD.

The results showed that the general index of foodstuff prices has recorded a slight increase in 2015, scoring about 70.9 points on average compared with 69 points recorded in 2014.

The majority of heads of UAE families in the sample responding to the poll in the month of December indicated that they didn’t feel an increase of any foodstuff goods covered by the index. However, some family heads said that they felt such an increase in different percentages. The different kinds of meat came first, with 42.9per cent of the responding families, followed by foodstuff goods to a lesser extent.

Asked about the extent to which their consumption patterns were influenced by the increase of the price of these goods, most of the heads of UAE families who responded to the poll indicated that they continued to consume the same quantities of goods because they consider them as essential goods. Fewer families said that there has been some change in their consumption patterns.

The general price index of the clothes and accessories group showed a higher levels of UAE families’ feeling of price increase for such goods in 2015 compared to 2014. On average, the index value reached about 77 and 74.7 points for the two years respectively.

According to the poll of December 2015, about 53.5 per cent of the UAE family heads in the targeted sample have singled out the increase in the prices of clothes and related goods. The majority of family head who felt the increase in the price of such goods (75per cent of them) said that buying these goods has become a burden. A considerable percentage of UAE family heads (54per cent) felt that there was an increase in the prices of perfumes and beauty products. Of those, 71per cent said that buying such goods has become a burden on their budgets.

The general consumer price index of durable consumer goods which includes the different kinds of computers, mobile phones and telecommunication devices, has also increased recording about 74 points on average during 2015 against an average of 71.9 points in 2014.

Al Mansoori said that the index readings reflect a growing feeling among UAE citizens of the increased price of these goods in 2015 compared with the previous year, noting that the results of December 2015 poll indicated that some 53per cent of UAE family heads have expressed their feeling of the increase in the prices of mobile phones and telecommunication devices against 40per cent for the prices of computers of all kinds.

In this regard, he called on the heads of UAE families to rationalise their consumption of consumer goods to face the additional burdens of possessing such secondary goods, pointing out that the percentage of UAE nationals who said they are facing additional burdens with these goods was about 82.2 per cent for computers and 72 per cent for mobile phones and telecommunication devices.

Source:WAM