Dubai Launches Fifth Coronavirus Recovery Package

Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said Dubai is studying the current situation carefully (WAM)
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said Dubai is studying the current situation carefully (WAM)
TT

Dubai Launches Fifth Coronavirus Recovery Package

Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said Dubai is studying the current situation carefully (WAM)
Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum said Dubai is studying the current situation carefully (WAM)

Dubai government continues to study dimensions of the current situation and its developments in light of the exceptional circumstances the world is going through, according to Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Dubai Crown Prince and Chairman of the Executive Council.

It aims at developing practical strategies that allow it to efficiently and effectively address these circumstances and contain the pandemic’s repercussions on the business and economic environment in the emirate.

According to the Crown Prince, the Dubai government’s efforts are in line with directives of Dubai Ruler Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister, that seek to mitigate the effects of the global crisis, provide the necessary constituents for business continuity, accelerate the pace of recovery to preserve economic gains, and benefit the most of all opportunities in the post-pandemic period.

Dubai will continue to harness all resources and capabilities to be the most city prepared for the future and the most attractive to investments, he stressed.

“In implementation of the directives of Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, we approved today a fifth package of economic incentives to support a number of economic sectors in Dubai and push forward our development process in preparation to the next phase of development,” Sheikh Hamdan noted, affirming that the leadership in advancing with confidence towards recovery and the return of normal life in Dubai.

“Despite the challenges posed by the pandemic at the global level, the economic situation in Dubai is in constant improvement.”

“We have the required constituents that bolster our ability to achieve leadership, and this has been reflected in the rapid pace of recovery of various economic sectors and activities,” he explained, adding that while overcoming the effects of the current global situation, the next phase will carry new opportunities that will enable entrepreneurs and investors to benefit from.

The value of the new economic incentives package approved by the Crown Prince has amounted to AED315 million ($85.7 million) based on the recommendations submitted to him by the Dubai Economy Support Committee headed by Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed, second Deputy Chairman of the Executive Council, to continue supporting various economic sectors.



Trump Taps Scott Bessent for Treasury

(FILES) Scott Bessent, head of Key Square Group and former chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management, attends the second day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 12, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.(Photo by Drew ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
(FILES) Scott Bessent, head of Key Square Group and former chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management, attends the second day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 12, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.(Photo by Drew ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
TT

Trump Taps Scott Bessent for Treasury

(FILES) Scott Bessent, head of Key Square Group and former chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management, attends the second day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 12, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.(Photo by Drew ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)
(FILES) Scott Bessent, head of Key Square Group and former chief investment officer of Soros Fund Management, attends the second day of the annual Allen & Company Sun Valley Conference, July 12, 2017 in Sun Valley, Idaho.(Photo by Drew ANGERER / GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP)

President-elect Donald Trump on Friday said he will nominate prominent investor Scott Bessent as US Treasury secretary, a key cabinet position with vast influence over economic, regulatory and international affairs.

"I am most pleased to nominate Scott Bessent to serve as the 79th Secretary of the Treasury of the United States," Trump said in a statement released on Truth Social. "Scott is widely respected as one of the world's foremost international investors and geopolitical and economic strategists."

Wall Street has been closely watching who Trump will pick, especially given his plans to remake global trade through tariffs and extend and potentially expand the raft of tax cuts enacted during his first term, Reuters reported
The choice came after days of deliberations by Trump as he sorted through a shifting list of candidates. Bessent spent day after day at Trump's Mar-a-Lago home in Florida providing economic advice, sources said, a proximity to the president-elect that may have helped him prevail.
Other names that had been floated included Apollo Global Management Chief Executive Marc Rowan and former Federal Reserve Governor Kevin Warsh. Investor John Paulson had also been a leading candidate, but dropped out, while Wall Street veteran Howard Lutnick, another contender, was appointed as head of the Commerce Department.
Bessent, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment, has advocated for tax reform and deregulation, particularly to spur more bank lending and energy production, as noted in a recent opinion piece he wrote for The Wall Street Journal.
The market's surge after Trump's election victory, he wrote, signaled investor expectations of "higher growth, lower volatility and inflation, and a revitalized economy for all Americans."
"Bessent has been on the side of less aggressive tariffs," said Oxford Economics' Ryan Sweet, adding that picking him makes the steep tariffs Trump proposed on the campaign trail less likely.
Bessent follows other financial luminaries who have taken the job, including former Goldman Sachs executives Robert Rubin, Hank Paulson and Steven Mnuchin, Trump's first Treasury chief. Janet Yellen, the current secretary and first woman in the job, previously chaired the Federal Reserve and White House Council of Economic Advisers.
Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina, Bessent's home state, said in a statement: "President Trump's economic agenda is in good hands with Scott Bessent. I look forward to working closely with Scott and President Trump to lower inflation and create the golden age of prosperity for the American people."