The 2026 Global Financial Inclusion Index highlights the Emirates’ strong financial support for small businesses while pointing to a wider gap between its SME performance and overall inclusion ranking.
The United Arab Emirates has ranked first globally for the support its financial system provides to small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), recording 96.4 points in the 2026 Global Financial Inclusion Index.
The ranking highlights the country’s financial infrastructure and its capacity to support businesses, particularly smaller enterprises seeking access to funding and financial services. However, the UAE placed 21st globally in the index’s overall financial inclusion rankings, with a score of 54.8, indicating that its leading SME performance does not translate into an equally high position across all dimensions of financial inclusion.
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