Financial Risk:

Very High

Score:

27/100

Asset Disposals

Collapse
Q24 25/100

How effective are controls over the disposal of assets, and is information on these disposals, and the proceeds of their sale, transparent?

View Question
Controls Score: 75 / 100
There are clear regulations and processes within the armed forces that administer the disposal of assets. Federal Decree No. 12 of 1986 regulating Tenders…
Explore
Transparency of disposal process Score: 0 / 100
The information available to the public about defence expenditure and budgets generally does not include any information related to asset disposal. Media reports, sometimes…
Explore
Transparency of financial results of disposals Score: 0 / 100
The UAE government does not reveal any information about its defence budget, revenues, and or assets to the public. As cases of asset disposal…
Explore
Q25 0/100

Is independent and transparent scrutiny of asset disposals conducted by defence establishments, and are the reports of such scrutiny publicly available?

View Question
Scrutiny Score: 0 / 100
There is no external auditing or a body that audits defence expenditure and income from asset disposal. There is an internal reporting mechanism, but…
Explore
Independence Score: NA / 100
This sub-indicator has been marked as Not Applicable, as with the lack of existence of a body to scrutinise defence asset disposal, an assessment…
Explore
Transparency Score: NA / 100
This sub-indicator is marked Not Applicable because, in the absence of an entity that is tasked with scrutiny over defence budgets, expenditure and asset…
Explore

Secret Budgets

Expand
Q26 0/100

What percentage of defence and security expenditure in the budget year is dedicated to spending on secret items relating to national security and the intelligence services?

View Question
Score: 0 / 100
The UAE defence budget that is made available to the public does not contain a breakdown of expenditures. The government announces its annual budget…
Explore
Q27 0/100

Is the legislature (or the appropriate legislative committee or members of the legislature) given full information for the budget year on the spending of all secret items relating to national security and military intelligence?

View Question
Score: 0 / 100
As the country does not have a functioning legislative council (the FNC is not a functioning parliament that has oversight committees), there is no…
Explore
Q28 0/100

Are audit reports of the annual accounts of the security sector (the military and intelligence services) subject to parliamentary debate?

View Question
Comprehensiveness Score: 0 / 100
There is no evidence of the FNC or any other auditing or reviewing body receiving annual reports about defence expenditure no body receives audit…
Explore
Parliamentary scrutiny Score: NA / 100
This sub-indicator is marked Not Applicable because there is no evidence of the FNC or any other auditing or reviewing body receiving annual reports…
Explore
Q29 17/100

In law, are off-budget military expenditures permitted, and if so, are they exceptional occurrences that are well-controlled? In practice, are there any off-budget military expenditures? If so, does evidence suggest this involves illicit economic activity?

View Question
Permitted exceptions Score: 0 / 100
As no law prohibits off-budget military expenditures, sources have confirmed that there are major off-budget military expenditures especially with contractors such as Blackwater and…
Explore
Recording mechanisms Score: 0 / 100
Off-budget military expenditures are not officially recorded in the budget as they are mostly registered as expenditures by the Office of the Crown Prince…
Explore
Prevalence Score: 50 / 100
Off-budget military expenditures occasionally happen, particularly in the last five years. Off-budget expenditures are usually used for strategic purchases from Western countries, mainly from…
Explore
Q30 0/100

Are mechanisms for accessing information from the defence sector effective?

View Question
Legal framework Score: 0 / 100
There are no mechanisms or implementing guidelines that clearly stipulate access to information for the defence sector. It has previously been established that accessing…
Explore
Classification of information Score: NS / 100
This indicator is not assigned a score in the GDI. It has been established that there is no clear legal framework stipulating access to…
Explore
Effectiveness Score: 0 / 100
This sub-indicator is not scored. The public is rarely able to access information from the defence sector, if at all. Desk-based research showed that…
Explore
Q31 50/100

Do national defence and security institutions have beneficial ownership of commercial businesses? If so, how transparent are details of the operations and finances of such businesses?

View Question
Extent of commercial ventures Score: 100 / 100
The Emirati Armed Forces do not own any business as per our sources. Even EBIC, a defence sector business is not owned by the…
Explore
Transparency Score: 0 / 100
There is no transparency concerning the defence institutions investments in commercial businesses at all. Although audit reports of companies associated (not owned) with defence…
Explore

Military-owned Businesses

Expand
Q32 100/100

Are military-owned businesses subject to transparent independent scrutiny at a recognised international standard?

View Question
Independent scrutiny Score: 100 / 100
There are no military owned businesses in the country (1), (2), (3).
Explore
Transparency Score: NA / 100
This sub-indicator is marked Not Applicable as there are no military owned businesses in the country (1), (2), (3).
Explore

Illegal Private Enterprise

Expand
Q33 100/100

Is there evidence of unauthorised private enterprise by military or other defence ministry employees? If so, what is the government’s reaction to such enterprise?

View Question
Prohibition Score: 100 / 100
Within the general labour law of the UAE, there are prohibitions within the Labour Law, Federal Law No, 8 of 1980, restricting public sector…
Explore
Prevalence Score: 100 / 100
There is no evidence of the existence of any unauthorised private enterprises in the UAE. Research has revealed that Federal Law No. 6 of…
Explore

Actual Military Spending

Expand
Q77 0/100

Is comprehensive data on actual spending on defence published during the budget year?

View Question
Proactive publication Score: 0 / 100
There is no evidence that military spending and military purchase reports are made public. Data on military purchases is considered confidential and not published…
Explore
Comprehensiveness Score: NA / 100
As there is no information on actual spending that is publicly accessible, this indicator is marked Not Applicable.
Explore
Timeliness Score: NA / 100
As there is no information on actual spending that is publicly accessible, this indicator is marked Not Applicable.
Explore
Comparison against budget Score: NA / 100
As there is no information on actual spending that is publicly accessible, this indicator is marked Not Applicable.
Explore