{"id":504912,"date":"2026-03-31T09:15:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:15:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/504912\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T09:15:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T09:15:17","slug":"uae-slows-down-from-gulf-war-stress-raises-remittance-concerns-for-india-amid-layoffs-pay-cuts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/504912\/","title":{"rendered":"UAE slows down from Gulf war stress; raises remittance concerns for India amid layoffs, pay cuts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dubai: The United Arab Emirates economy is beginning to show early signs of stress as the Gulf war stretches beyond a month, with some layoffs in sectors such as hospitality, travel, events and food & beverage (F&B).<\/p>\n

Companies in these sectors have started cutting jobs, reducing salaries and sending employees on unpaid leave, according to HR executives in the country. They warn that this may just be the beginning, with the impact likely to spread to other sectors in the coming weeks if the conflict persists, having begun February 28.<\/p>\n

Also Read | UAE retailers tap alternative ways to fill food aisle<\/a><\/p>\n

A slowdown in the UAE job market could also affect remittance flows to India that typically help cushion the country\u2019s trade deficit. The UAE accounts for about a fifth of India\u2019s global remittances.<\/p>\n

\u201cJob losses and salary reduction are already happening in some companies in the UAE since last week,\u201d said Sarah Brooks, managing director, Fikrah HR. \u201cIt’s across many companies and industries unfortunately, some are hospitality, retail, and food & beverage.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most of these sectors are following an action plan similar to the one adopted during the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are providing unpaid and annual leaves, air tickets to facilitate team members travelling home. Fewer are being laid off, they are working to preserve employment knowing that business will return and the team would be needed in time,\u201d Brooks said.<\/p>\n

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Businesses in Survival ModeWhile hospitality, events, and travel have taken a major hit, all sectors are impacted, said Amruta Heblikar, founder, Virtual Key, an HR services firm.<\/p>\n

\u201cAbout 60% of the impact is on the hospitality industry and the events segment, while the remaining 40% is spread across other sectors,\u201d she said. \u201cSalary reductions are already happening. In many companies, pay cuts range from about 20% to even 50%. The situation is getting worse by the day.\u201dSeveral F&B companies are waiting to see if the situation improves by mid-April and will then contemplate further salary cuts or putting employees on unpaid leave, Heblikar said.<\/p>\n

Also Read | Banks in UAE freeze FD, salary, savings a\/cs after account holder\u2019s death: A practical guide for families of deceased expats to access funds<\/a><\/p>\n

Even after the war ends, it could take another quarter for business conditions to normalise.<\/p>\n

\u201cRight now, businesses are not thinking about achieving revenue targets or budgets,\u201d she said. \u201cIt is more about survival.\u201d<\/p>\n

A five-star hotel in Dubai Marina fired 300 people two weeks ago, while a large cloud kitchen operator in the UAE sacked around 100 people last week. A well-known Russian restaurant in Downtown Dubai has reportedly laid off about 15 employees, and another major F&B player has reduced salaries by 50%, essentially telling staff to accept the cut or leave. These are only a few of the many examples indicating economic stress.<\/p>\n

According to data from Biz2X, consumption activity in the UAE has dropped 25-30% since the war began, based on point-of-sale (PoS) transactions.<\/p>\n

Tourism worst-hit\u201cThe steepest decline has been in tourism, travel, hotels and high-end restaurants, where transactions have fallen by as much as 60%,\u201d said Rohit Arora, CEO and co-founder, Biz2X and Biz2Credit. The company operates in the UAE through partnerships with payment processors and has access to merchant data from as many as 170,000 businesses, covering an estimated 90-95% of the market.<\/p>\n

Market research firm Redseer Middle East told ET that while luxury and big-ticket discretionary retail are the hardest hit on the residential side, tourism-linked hospitality is also a casualty.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is no domestic offset for a $59 billion inbound tourist economy. Physical F&B is caught in the middle,\u201d said managing director Sandeep Ganediwalla. \u201cAbout 20% of residents have cut spending on dining, while tourist-driven footfall in premium restaurant clusters has also declined.\u201d<\/p>\n

He added that discretionary categories including electronics, furniture and apparel have declined 35-38%, indicating stress on non-essential retail.\u201cAnother major area being hit is real estate and business setup companies,\u201d said an HR executive. \u201cI work closely with two large corporate service providers in Dubai, each employing around 300-400 people. They have started laying off staff or sending employees on reduced pay. Their business depends heavily on new investors setting up companies in the UAE, and right now there are virtually no new investors.\u201dWithout new business, commissions have stopped and salaries have been cut by about 50% for some employees, the person said.<\/p>\n

Pause on eventsAll events are on hold for the next three to four months at least, directly impacting people employed in the sector.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Dubai: The United Arab Emirates economy is beginning to show early signs of stress as the Gulf war…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":504913,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[84,177226,1294,177228,177223,177224,177225,177222,177227,177221,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-504912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-business-survival-mode-uae","tag-economy","tag-fb-salary-reductions","tag-impact-of-gulf-war-on-uae-economy","tag-job-layoffs-uae","tag-pay-cuts-hospitality-sector","tag-remittance-concerns-for-india","tag-tourism-decline-uae","tag-uae-economy-slowdown","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=504912"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/504912\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/504913"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=504912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=504912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=504912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}