The Emirates Today, through a series of dialogues, monitors how the business community in the Emirates deals with the repercussions of the emerging Corona virus (Covid-19), and the dialogues include elite businessmen and investors in sectors such as tourism, hospitality, aviation, real estate and retail, and other vital sectors To find out the mechanisms applied by private sector companies to overcome the effects of the current crisis, which affected the local and global economy.

The effects of the economic support plan, which was applied by the Central Bank with a value exceeding 256 billion dirhams, are also being monitored, as well as a series of incentives offered by local and federal governments, as part of efforts to reduce the repercussions of the spread of the Corona virus epidemic on the national economy.

The series of dialogues touches on how the return of activity contributes, to various economic sectors, in restoring the spirit of activity and the prevailing economic life cycle before the emergence of the Corona crisis, as well as the investors ’vision about the future of the national economy, and how to restore the levels of growth achieved before the repercussions of the virus, as well as monitoring any incentives Or requirements for investors from government agencies, to help them restore their activity, and increase growth rates and employment opportunities, during the coming period.

The UAE economy has major ingredients that make it more capable and tough in facing economic crises and fluctuations, and includes the successful economic diversification policy that the Emirates started more than 30 years ago, besides having huge investment assets that provide them with sufficient financial liquidity, in addition to open economic policies and the work environment The competitive advantage of the UAE.

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The Alwaleed Investment Group reported that the investment diversification it pursues was the first line of defense to face the repercussions of the Corona crisis, noting that it is working in various activities and sectors, most notably the real estate sector, in addition to the hotel, tourism, travel and banking sector.

The group stated to «Emirates Today» that the continuous work was the only way out of the crisis of “Covid-19”, indicating that it did not stop any of its work during the crisis period, as it did not drop any employee, but some jobs were structured until The employee benefits, as well as salary scheduling in the most affected sectors, such as the tourism sector.

Variety of activities

In detail, the CEO of the "Al-Walid Investment Group", Mohamed Abdel-Razzaq Al-Mutawa, said that the impact of the Corona pandemic was significant on different sectors, but the effects were different from one sector to another, indicating that the damage in a sector such as tourism cannot be compared to a sector such as real estate, Whereas, if the crisis occurred on the tourism sector, it was more severe compared to the real estate sector, although sales declined, but did not stop.

Al-Mutawa added that the investment diversity that the group adopted a while ago was beneficial in this crisis, explaining that the company since its establishment in 2002, distributed its areas of work to more than one activity, which made the group's endurance strength very good, and better than companies with a single investment orientation.

And he clarified that the group has investments in the real estate sector, through its arm "Alwaleed Real Estate", in addition to the contracting, maintenance and real estate management sector, in addition to its investments in the tourism sector, represented by more than one hotel brand inside and outside the country, as it owns the "Uranus Travel" brand, The group also has real estate development projects and rental portfolios, in addition to its work in the field of real estate management and banking, represented by «Al-Razouki International Exchange».

He pointed out that the group's investments in the health sector are among the most important sectors at the present time.

continue working

Al-Mutawa mentioned that one of the challenges that the Al-Waleed Investment Group faced during the Corona crisis was to continue to work, as the group took it upon itself not to stop, despite the closure of offices in light of the precautionary measures, and to continue to work remotely with full energy in most sectors, except In some sectors, which was exceptionally affected by the rest of the sectors, such as the hotel sector, as the employment rate in some hotels reached 20%, and then it increased to 50% after the opening of the economy.

He added: «We believe in the group that stopping work and production is the end of anything, whether it is a project or an idea, as we did not stop any project, during the global financial crisis in 2008, and during the crisis (Corona), despite the situation in the current crisis "It was more difficult, because it is a crisis the world has never before seen, and that the enemy is unknown."

Payroll

Al-Mutawa pointed out that one of the challenges that the company also met was to continue to pay salaries in light of the crisis, especially in some sectors where the impact was significant.

He added, "Accordingly, we have reduced salaries selectively in some sectors most affected by the continuing crisis, so the gradual reduction of employees in the hotels of the group, where salaries were initially reduced by 25%, then 50% coinciding with the preventive closure."

Al-Mutawa stressed the importance of controlling spending for financial resources, especially at this stage, saying: “The good management of financial resources, and the continuation of work in most sectors, enabled the group to emerge from this crisis while in a strong financial position.”

He added that another factor that kept the group in mind was taking into account the government's strategies in its economic activities, in addition to not expanding the risk.

Real estate sector

Al-Mutawa mentioned that the real estate sector is witnessing an improvement in demand, after prices witnessed declines, which affected developers, due to the decrease in demand and falling prices.

He pointed out that the price corrections that the real estate market witnessed, especially in Dubai during the period of the “Corona” crisis, will encourage many investors to enter into new real estate deals in the coming period, considering that «if there is a calm in demand for a period of time, there is no doubt that it will shift To a good position at a later stage. ”

Al-Mutawa explained that “the movement of the economy is upward and downward curves, and that despite the existence of an imbalance in the supply and demand equation in the real estate sector at present in favor of the demand for demand, due to the health crisis, but this imbalance will not continue.”

He pointed out that the return of air traffic will be in the interest of the real estate sector directly, in conjunction with a desire by investors to reside in the Emirates, especially after proving its capabilities to deal with one of the biggest health and economic crises.

Rents

Al-Mutawa reported that the “Al-Waleed Investment Group” has a large rental portfolio, in addition to managing dozens of buildings in Dubai, and this was a challenge to it in light of the “Corona” crisis, where the cash flows declined by some of the affected individuals and companies in the rental sector, so it was Support by the group, as it provided facilities to tenants, especially for those who were affected by the closing of their commercial stores, due to the banning of their activities during the last period, indicating that these facilities by the group came in light of their participation in government efforts to reduce the repercussions of the "Covid-19" crisis.

Positive aspects

The CEO of the "Alwaleed Investment Group", Mohamed Abdel-Razzaq Al-Mutawa, said that there are positive aspects of the "Corona" crisis, the most prominent of which is the unification of efforts and cooperation between the private and governmental sectors in support of the sustainability of the economic movement, to overcome the repercussions of the crisis.

Al-Mutawa expressed his optimism to get out of this crisis as soon as possible, especially for the Gulf countries in general, adding that “the Gulf countries are the least affected by the crisis, for an important reason which is that the financial strength of the Gulf countries compared to their population is much better than other economies, such as the United States And Europe, which I expect to suffer due to the loss of many jobs and the pressure on its budgets, due to the increase in the number of injured people in those countries. ”

Muhammad Al-Mutawa:

"The group took it upon themselves not to stop working, despite the closure of the offices."

"We believe in the group that stopping work and production is the end of anything."

"The return of air traffic will be directly in the interest of the real estate sector."

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