UAE govt to settle USD 154.6 m of loans held by nationals

The country's official news agency WAM said President Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan has ordered settlement of defaulting personal loans of citizens whose debts are less than 5 million dirhams.

This will include UAE nationals who are in detention, pending trial or convicted, or are settling their debts through installment schedules set by the courts.

The order is based on a recommendation made by the country's Supreme Committee of the Debts Settlement Fund for Citizens with limited income, whereby the government settles with the concerned banks, fully or partially, its citizens' loans.

The total number of locals impacted by the presidential order is "368 citizens with total defaulting debts of AED 568 million, of whom 60 locals are detained or had court sentences issued against them with a total sum of AED 68.8 million," the WAM statement said.