Dubai's Department of Economic Development (DED) issued 1,844 new commercial, professional, industrial and tourism licences in March.

DED witnessed increasing business registration and licensing activities last month reaffirming the emirate’s position as a preferred place for business start-ups and expansions.

According to the "Business Map" digital platform of DED, more than 26,410 business registration and licencing, BRL, transactions were completed in March, compared to 23,407 in February, while the number of new licences issued also jumped from 1,646 to 1,844 between the two months.

The increase in BRL activity and its distribution across business sectors and areas underlines improved investor confidence in the expansionary spending policies and economic performance in Dubai, as well as the emirate’s potential to enable and sustain business growth, said the DED in a statement.

Renewal of licences accounted for 12,694 BRL transactions in March 2018, while 3,281 transactions were related to Trade Name Reservation.

Initial approval transactions amounted to 2,231 and there were also 2,018 auto renewals, 108 instant licences and 139 e-Trader licences in the overall activity list.

Commercial licences topped the list of BRL activities in March 2018 at 62.2 per cent, followed by the Professional (34.9 per cent), Industrial (1.6 per cent) and Tourism (1.3 per cent) licences, said the satement.

The outsourced service centres of BRL performed remarkably well, handling 21,582 (81.7 per cent ) of the total transactions and reaffirming their role and relevance in providing competitive services to DED customers, it added.

DED said among the major regions within the emirate, Bur Dubai accounted for the lion’s share of new licences (848), followed by Deira (847), New Dubai (141) and Hatta (8).

The share of the top 10 sub-regions that accounted for 51.7 per cent of all transactions were as follows: Burj Khalifa (11.2 per cent), New Dubai (8.3 per cent), Al Marar (6.4 per cent), Naif (5.1 per cent), Port Saeed (4.2 per cent), Hor Al Anz (4.1 per cent), Dubai World Trade Centre 1 (3.8 per cent), Al Garhoud (3.4 per cent), Al Karama (2.6 per cent) and Al Khubaisi (2 per cent), it added.-TradeArabia News Service