UAE Business: New law aims to raise the cooperatives’ input to GDP by 5pc – Gulf Digital News

UAE Business: New law aims to raise the cooperatives’ input to GDP by 5pc – Gulf Digital News

UAE’s new Federal Decree-Law No. 6 of 2022 on cooperatives aims to increase the contribution of cooperatives to the non-oil GDP by 5% by the year 2031, as compared to the sector’s current input of less than 1%.

The law also plans to increase the number of members contributing to cooperative unions to nearly 500,000 from the current 100,435 and build a leading cooperative experience that keeps pace with international standards.

The law, which will come into effect in December 2022, will encourage members of the community to establish cooperatives in new sectors and diversify their operations to include various kinds such as consumption cooperatives, production cooperatives, employees' and professionals' cooperatives, community cooperatives, service cooperatives (financial and health), digital cooperatives, platform cooperatives, and other cooperatives approved by the Cabinet.

Key pillar

During a media briefing, Abdullah Bin Ahmed Al Saleh, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Economy, emphasised that the UAE has adopted a new perspective on the development of the cooperatives sector in order to position it as a key pillar to the country’s sustainable economic and social development.

The country is keen to launch policies that comprehensively enhance the performance of this key sector, strengthen the cooperatives system and its contribution to the national