The contribution of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) to the economy of Dubai grew by 7 per cent in 2011, according to the latest figures released by the centre.

The DIFC contributed $3.13bn to Dubai’s economy in 2011, which is estimated to be about $92bn.

The DIFC, which comprises only a small part of the UAE’s financial sector, now employs almost 13,000 people, making it only slightly smaller than the 14,342 people employed in all the financial institutions in Bahrain, which vies with Dubai for the title as regional financial hub.

However, Bahrainis make up 66 per cent of its financial sector workforce. In the DIFC, nationals make up just 2.2 per cent. “We cannot impose any quotas or actions on institutions in freezones,” says Abdulla Mohammed al-Awar, chief executive officer of the DIFC Authority. He added that instead the DIFC would work with firms to help them develop programmes for the training and employment of UAE nationals.

The DIFC added that it is seeing an increased amount of interest from Chinese banks using the centre as a base for their operations into Africa.