The group, which is part of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, said after making substantial changes to its implement recommendations, is “no longer blocked from moving to the next phase of the peer review process”.
Passing the phase one peer review means the UAE, alongside Colombia, Latvia, Saudi Arabia and Botswana which are at the same stage, can pass on to the second phase peer review.
After submitting to the phase one review, the UAE, alongside Botswana, was asked to make a number of changes which have now been completed.
However, while the Forum said it is supplementary review, published today, it is happy for the UAE to continue to the next phase, it also outlined concerns about some of the country’s free zones and the availability of information from them, in particular the Dubai International Financial Centre.
The report said, following its recommendations, foreign entities and companies based in the DIFC would have to submit ownership information to the authorities and that all entities within in the DIFC are required to keep “reliable accounting records” for at least six years.
The Global Forum’s report comes as on the eve of the UAE’s entrance into the MSCI’s emerging market index, something which is likely to see a significant increase in investment allocation to the country.
