The number of business licences issued in the UAE by the end of August, increased to 532,000, a growth of 9 per cent over the end of 2017, a media report said.

Abu Dhabi and Dubai accounted for around 85 per cent of the licenses issued by the end of August, namely 453,000, reported Emirates news agency Wam, citing Ministry of Economy's statistics

Dubai came first with 249,000 licenses, comprising 46.8 per cent of the total licenses issued by other departments of economic development across the country.

The World Bank's Ease of Doing Business report revealed last year that the UAE is ranked 21st globally and came on top of Arab countries for the fifth year in a row.

In terms of legal status, limited liability companies come first in terms of the number of licensed firms, 170,066 companies, followed by individual companies, 72,807, then foreign companies, 2,141, single-member limited liability company,1,869, Gulf companies, 894, with the rest of licenses distributed among other stock, and private companies.

In Abu Dhabi, a total of 77,406 licenses have been issued, including 25,460 for limited liability companies,17,942 for company branches and the rest for single-member limited liability companies as well as stock and private and other types of firms.

In Sharjah, a total of 51,998 licenses were issued for individual companies, 23,178 for limited liability companies and the rest for other types of firms.