About 1,000 new jobs have been created at the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) in the first six months of the year and the number of companies operating there has risen by 7 per cent to 979.

The DIFC also said occupancy across its own properties, such as the Gate District, and third-party owned property the DIFC manages, such as Currency House and Liberty House, was running at more than 90 per cent. Occupancy figures for third-party owned and managed space, including Index Tower and Emirates Financial Towers, were not available, although they are understood to be much lower.

Jeff Singer, chief executive officer (CEO) of the DIFC Authority, said no new office space would be required for the next four to five years.

He added that increasingly firms were basing themselves in the DIFC to serve an area beyond just the GCC or the Middle East. “Firms coming to the DIFC are increasingly coming not just to do business with the Middle East, or the Gulf, but for Africa and South Asia,” says Singer. “I believe that because of this we are poised for a new level of growth at the DIFC.”