Abu Dhabi movement ban: residents may now leave without permit

Residents of Abu Dhabi can now leave the capital without a permit but will require one to re-enter, authorities announced on Tuesday.

Under the new rules, those who leave Abu Dhabi emirate will be allowed to return only after applying for a permit and precautionary health measures will apply on entry.

On Tuesday, the Abu Dhabi Emergency, Crisis and Disaster Committee for the Covid-19 Pandemic said movement between Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and Al Dhafra will remain restricted unless the traveller obtains a permit using the police portal before the journey.

The committee repeated that any travel within the emirate must occur between 6am and 10pm, to allow for the national disinfection programme that is carried out each night.

Moving workers into and out of Abu Dhabi emirate and between its regions remains restricted.

On Monday, it was announced that the restriction on movement in Abu Dhabi was extended for another week, until June 23.

The travel restriction, which began on June 2, was brought in to ensure Abu Dhabi's major testing drive worked effectively in containing the spread of Covid-19.

“This step aims to enhance the effectiveness of the expanded National Screening Programme, which tested more than 388,000 people in the past two weeks, among precautionary and preventive measures being taken to curb the spread of Covid-19,” Abu Dhabi Media Office tweeted on Monday.

Residents of Abu Dhabi City, Al Ain and Al Dhafra can travel within their cities but not enter or leave them without a permit.

The measure does not stop people leaving their homes, other than during the disinfection hours of 10pm to 6am.

Those working in vital sectors, air passengers and other people with special circumstances can seek exemption.

Sheikh Abdulla Al Hamed, chairman of Abu Dhabi's Department of Health, previously said the decision on the initial one-week ban came as the emirate stepped up its testing drive in densely populated areas.

Officials in the emirate are screening all workers living in Mussaffah, an industrial area on the outskirts of the capital, to curb the spread of the coronavirus.

Apply for a travel permit here: https://es.adpolice.gov.ae/en/movepermit

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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.”

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Karnataka Tuskers 110-5 (10 ovs)

Tharanga 48, Shafiq 34, Rampaul 2-16

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Karnataka Tuskers win by 19 runs