The Targeted Economic Support Scheme (TESS), launched last year to support the UAE’s economy during the Covid-19 pandemic, has so far helped more than 320,000 customers, including individuals, small to medium-size enterprises and other private corporations.
There are about 175,000 customers under the current TESS deferral arrangements, the Central Bank of the UAE (CBUAE) said.
In November, CBUAE announced the extension of its economic stimulus package by six months until the end of June.
The scheme offers a range of integrated relief measures to the banking sector related to funding, liquidity, lending and capital.
The banks’ drawdown of the dedicated TESS zero-cost liquidity facility was AED22 billion this month, down from the maximum drawdown of about AED44 billion reached in the second quarter of 2020.
The figures were revealed as Abdulhamid M Saeed Alahmadi, governor of the CBUAE, conducted the first quarterly meeting this year with the CEOs of the largest banks operating in the UAE.
He said: “It is satisfying to see that the TESS programme has yielded positive impact for the UAE’s banking sector and the wider economy. The introduction of the stimulus package came at a critical juncture and ensured that banks were able to mitigate funding and liquidity pressures and maintain their lending capacity.”
He noted that the overall liquidity of the UAE banking system has returned to the pre-Covid levels.
“In tandem with the banking sector, we pave the way for the UAE’s robust economic recovery from the pandemic. Our base projection envisages recovery of the UAE economy in 2021 with the real GDP to increase by 2.5 percent. CBUAE will continue to closely monitor market and economic developments both in the UAE and globally.”
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