11 minutes ago
The United Arab Emirates intends to double the financial support provided by the government to low-income Emirati families, in order to help them cope with the rising cost of living.
Financial support packages and social assistance provided to low-income Emirati families will be increased, to a total of 28 billion dirhams ($7.6 billion).
The increase includes strengthening the current social assistance in addition to providing new aid aimed at addressing the inflation in food prices, and the costs of electricity and fuel, according to the official news agency in the UAE (WAM).
Emirati nationals represent about ten percent of the UAE’s population of about 10 million, most of whom are foreign workers.
Foreign workers, many of whom work in low-paid jobs, will not directly benefit from the financial support package.
The new aid includes financial support for university students, as well as the unemployed over the age of 45.
Residents of the UAE, both nationals and foreigners, have in recent months expressed concern about the rising cost of living, with fuel prices alone rising by nearly 80 percent this year so far.
Earlier this year, low-paid foreign delivery drivers in the UAE began a strike over low wages and high fuel prices.
Repercussions of the Ukraine war
The Russian war on Ukraine caused a significant increase in fuel and energy prices globally, especially in light of the economic sanctions imposed by the United States of America and European countries on Moscow because of the war.
Energy prices have been rising for more than a year due to a rapid increase in demand for oil after a decline during the outbreak of the Corona epidemic.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine added new pressure on prices, as sanctions make it difficult for Russia, which produces about 7 percent of global supplies, to find buyers for its oil.
The United States and Canada imposed a ban on Russian oil imports, while Britain said it would gradually ban imports from Russia by the end of the year.
The International Energy Agency has also agreed in the past few months to use 60 million barrels of oil from strategic national reserves, but this move is not enough to counter the recent rise in prices.
US President Joe Biden and other leaders pledged to work to ease the pressures of higher prices. US officials have held talks with oil producers aimed at boosting supplies.
“We prefer to increase production and will encourage OPEC to consider higher production levels,” Emirati Ambassador Yousef Al-Otaiba said in a statement posted in March on the Twitter account of the UAE embassy in Washington.