UAE Stock Markets to Follow Government Shift to Mon-Fri Week

UAE government official said that the stock exchanges in the United Arab Emirates will start operating Monday-to-Friday following the Gulf country’s decision to switch its working week.

The UAE announced to replace its working week for government employees to accelerate a push to draw in international investment and business by aligning with global markets. Instead of the current work schedule of Sunday-to-Thursday working week, it will adopt a 4 1/2-day working week, with Friday (a holy day in Islam) being a half day, which will be effective on January 1st 2022.

Abdulrahman Al Awar, director general of the Federal Authority for Government Human Resources said that the exchanges “will operate Monday-Friday and Friday will be a full business day for the stock markets,” in a Bloomberg TV interview Wednesday. “The decision is made to invest in the competitiveness of the UAE economy and to enhance productivity.”

A recently passed UAE labor law that allows flexible and part-time work means the private sector has the choice about how to structure the working week, Al Awar said.

The law “enhances the flexibility for the private sector and the economy to allow them to decide the value added to their business,” he added.