Syrian girls, carrying school bags provided by UNICEF, walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings on their way home from school in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo. AFP
Syrian girls, carrying school bags provided by UNICEF, walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings on their way home from school in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo. AFP
Syrian girls, carrying school bags provided by UNICEF, walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings on their way home from school in the northern Syrian city of Aleppo. AFP
Insight and opinion from The National’s editorial leadership
August 01, 2021
Even before the pandemic gripped the world, the education scenario globally was far from ideal. Despite decades of hard-won progress in education for all children, millions more across the world needed to be in school, studying and improving their prospects for life. In 2018, the estimate was that globally more than 258 million children and adolescents were out of school, according to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco). In April last year, when Covid-19 upended all our lives, perhaps one of the biggest developmental setbacks was that the virus endangered decades of progress made in global education – last year, close to 1.6 billion children and youth were out of school.
The worst affected continued to be pupils in developing countries, for whom the chances of an education, and thus a life rid of poverty, were slipping away by them remaining out of the classroom. And an unfortunate reality is that girls are rendered especially disadvantaged in developing countries. The pandemic further exacerbated reasons why so many – 129 million girls worldwide, according to the UN – had to stay home.
It is up to wealthier countries to ease the obstacles in the path of every girl's progress. In fact, a former president of Tanzania Jakaya Kikwete recently called it the “moral duty” of wealthy nations to invest in the education of children in the developing world.
At last week's Global Education Summit in London, where people such as Malala Yousafzai and the WHO's Director General, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, spoke, these challenges that stand in the way of education for all – as per the fourth UN Sustainable Development Goal – formed a part of the discussion. The aim of the summit was to raise at least $5 billion to support the work of the Global Partnership for Education (GPE), the largest global fund to transform education in lower-income countries.
To this end, the UAE has pledged Dh367 million ($100m) to the GPE. In a promising development, over the next five years, the Emirates will support educational programmes in developing countries – prioritising the plight of girls. Reem Al Hashimy, the UAE Minister of State for International Co-operation, rightly said that children's education is a priority when it comes to foreign aid for developing countries around the world.
The UAE is a long-standing supporter and advocate of education, providing aid where needed, for years. Previously, in 2018, the Emirates pledged $100m to support the GPE, in Dakar, Senegal. And in January 2019, to mark International Education Day, the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development granted Dh2.5 billion for 129 projects in the education sector across 14 developing countries.
These instances illustrate the importance of the point Dr Tedros made last week at the summit when he said that investment was needed to provide safe schooling in the age of the pandemic. "The pandemic has hit the world’s children hard," Dr Tedros said. "This has magnified inequities for already marginalised children, especially girls."
When Ms Al Hashimy talks of developing the skills women, girls, and youth needed for long-term success, it is necessary that we listen and do what is in our individual capacities to make sure every child has the opportunity to overcome socioeconomic disadvantages and get his or her due – fundamentally, the right to learn and the right to a good education.
We weren’t supposed to survive but we did.
We weren’t supposed to remember but we did.
We weren’t supposed to write but we did.
We weren’t supposed to fight but we did.
We weren’t supposed to organise but we did.
We weren’t supposed to rap but we did.
We weren’t supposed to find allies but we did.
We weren’t supposed to grow communities but we did.
We weren’t supposed to return but WE ARE.
Amira Sakalla
Stars: Daniel Kaluuya, Allison Williams, Catherine Keener, Bradley Whitford
Four stars
Global state-owned investor ranking by size
1.
United States
2.
China
3.
UAE
4.
Japan
5
Norway
6.
Canada
7.
Singapore
8.
Australia
9.
Saudi Arabia
10.
South Korea
AUSTRALIA SQUAD
Aaron Finch, Matt Renshaw, Brendan Doggett, Michael Neser, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine (captain), Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Jon Holland, Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc, Peter Siddle
Ten tax points to be aware of in 2026
1. Domestic VAT refund amendments: request your refund within five years
If a business does not apply for the refund on time, they lose their credit.
2. E-invoicing in the UAE
Businesses should continue preparing for the implementation of e-invoicing in the UAE, with 2026 a preparation and transition period ahead of phased mandatory adoption.
3. More tax audits
Tax authorities are increasingly using data already available across multiple filings to identify audit risks.
4. More beneficial VAT and excise tax penalty regime
Tax disputes are expected to become more frequent and more structured, with clearer administrative objection and appeal processes. The UAE has adopted a new penalty regime for VAT and excise disputes, which now mirrors the penalty regime for corporate tax.
5. Greater emphasis on statutory audit
There is a greater need for the accuracy of financial statements. The International Financial Reporting Standards standards need to be strictly adhered to and, as a result, the quality of the audits will need to increase.
6. Further transfer pricing enforcement
Transfer pricing enforcement, which refers to the practice of establishing prices for internal transactions between related entities, is expected to broaden in scope. The UAE will shortly open the possibility to negotiate advance pricing agreements, or essentially rulings for transfer pricing purposes.
7. Limited time periods for audits
Recent amendments also introduce a default five-year limitation period for tax audits and assessments, subject to specific statutory exceptions. While the standard audit and assessment period is five years, this may be extended to up to 15 years in cases involving fraud or tax evasion.
8. Pillar 2 implementation
Many multinational groups will begin to feel the practical effect of the Domestic Minimum Top-Up Tax (DMTT), the UAE's implementation of the OECD’s global minimum tax under Pillar 2. While the rules apply for financial years starting on or after January 1, 2025, it is 2026 that marks the transition to an operational phase.
9. Reduced compliance obligations for imported goods and services
Businesses that apply the reverse-charge mechanism for VAT purposes in the UAE may benefit from reduced compliance obligations.
10. Substance and CbC reporting focus
Tax authorities are expected to continue strengthening the enforcement of economic substance and Country-by-Country (CbC) reporting frameworks. In the UAE, these regimes are increasingly being used as risk-assessment tools, providing tax authorities with a comprehensive view of multinational groups’ global footprints and enabling them to assess whether profits are aligned with real economic activity.
Contributed by Thomas Vanhee and Hend Rashwan, Aurifer
Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Prize money: $50,000 (Dh183,650) for winners and $10,000 for those on the shortlist.
Winning novels: 13
Shortlisted novels: 66
Longlisted novels: 111
Total number of novels submitted: 1,780
Novels translated internationally: 66
The burning issue
The internal combustion engine is facing a watershed moment – major manufacturer Volvo is to stop producing petroleum-powered vehicles by 2021 and countries in Europe, including the UK, have vowed to ban their sale before 2040. The National takes a look at the story of one of the most successful technologies of the last 100 years and how it has impacted life in the UAE.
