The percentage of borrowers in UAE families in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi, according to the results of opinion polls conducted during the third quarter of 2011, went up by 3.8% compared to the same period in 2010, as it increased from 61.5% in 2010 to 57.7% The results of the National Family Conditions Observatory Index, Observatory, released by the Studies Directorate of the Department of Economic Development in Abu Dhabi, indicated that personal loans have become a burden and exert great pressure on families, as loans constituted in average about 19.2% of the monthly household expenditure in the third quarter of 2011, down by (1%) compared to the same period in 2010, whereas 48% of citizen families, expected that their monthly expenditure would increase during the fourth quarter of this year.

The results indicate that the largest percentage of loans are spent on education of children and private tutoring, in addition to car financing.

According to the index, UAE family, in the Emirate of Abu Dhabi’s have felt the rise in the prices of food commodities in particular in the third quarter of 2011, compared to the second quarter of the same year.

The general index for the third quarter of 2011 increased by (1) point in September 2011, recording 79 points compared to 78 points in the second quarter of 2011.

Despite the increase in food prices felt by citizens, there is no change in the pattern of consumption, as most families continued to consume nearly the same amount or sometimes more of the same quantities of the commodity which witnessed an increase in price.

The largest percentage of UAE families, within the sample, indicated that their consumption of food commodities had increased despite the rise in prices in the emirate, particular with regard to meat, fish, poultry and dairy products.

The results of the National Family Conditions Observatory Index fall in line with the with the results of the Consumer confidence in Economic Performance Index, which revealed high awareness of consumers about the hikes in prices observed in the "Food and non-alcoholic beverages" category; and the low optimism among consumers about their financial situation.

Statistics Center report of August 17, 2011 revealed that the consumer prices index during the first seven months of 2011 increased by 2.5%, compared to the same period in 2010, stressing that the "Food and non-alcoholic beverages" category, was the group that inspired the hike in consumer prices, as it contributed by 54.9% during the same period.

According to the index, the survey was conducted in the Month of Ramadan as the rise coincided also with the back-to-school period and the beginning of university terms, which in turn increased the financial pressure on families The Family Conditions Indicator revealed important data, most notably the average household expenditure on education which stood at AED 31.987 per year; and the average spending on mobile phones which registered AED 3595 during the three months preceding, the average household expenditure on fixed phones and the Internet at AED 1248 during the three preceding months. About 62% of the respondents, according to indicator, continuously changed their mobile phones, 62.4% of the respondents bought their cars through bank financing, and they registered an increase of 3% compared to the same period in 2010.

The importance of the National Family Conditions Observatory lies in the relative weight of Emirati families in the community of the Emirate. The Observatory aims at monitoring and analyzing a number of issues related to the conditions of citizens in the emirate, as it contains a set of indicators that measure conditions of these families, and traces the changes in the lifestyle of citizens in various aspects of economic and social developments. This is done through regular field monitoring of these changes and building a set of indicators that reflect the up or down trends of these changes to measure their negatively or positively impact.

The main idea of the opinion polls based on field interviews, is to periodically measure a number of indicators at the level of the citizens of the emirate, in addition to monitoring a number of issues and problems that arise in the community, in order to identify the effects on citizens and measure their attitudes and response about these issues.

The aim of indicators is to identify changes that affect the citizens’ patterns of living and their spending on goods and services. This is done through a set of indicators including indicators to detect changes in the prices of goods and services and change in the consumption of goods and services.

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