Overview
Ras Al Khaimah (RAK) occupies a strategic location in the heart of the Middle East on the busy Strait of Hormuz and is the furthest north of the seven Emirates that make up the United Arab Emirates (UAE).

Boasting the UAE’s longest coastline, Ras Al Khaimah translates from Arabic to English as “the top of the tent” due to its position, and is the most scenic of the Emirates with landscape ranging from fertile plains, mountains, desert regions and kilometres of untouched coastline
and white sandy beaches.

Government
Ras Al Khaimah joined the UAE Federation in October 1972 together with the six other Emirates, each of which are ruled by a hereditary monarch and historically has been an important maritime trading centre in the Gulf.

Sheikh Saqr bin Muhammad Al Qasimi has ruled since 1948 which makes him one of the longest serving rulers in the world today.He has played a pivotal role in the stabilisation and development of Ras Al Khaimah since he came into power.

Recent efforts to diversify Ras Al Khaimah’s economy stem from the inauguration of the Ruler’s son, Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, as Crown Prince in 2003. Since
then, the Emirate has embarked on an aggressive development programme.

Tourism
The Emirates’ aim is to acquire a larger share of the tourism market in the UAE and has undertaken various initiatives to achieve this. From 2006 to 2007, the number of tourist arrivals into Ras Al Khaimah increased by approximately 40%, from 500,000 to about 700,000.The Majority of these visitors were from Germany, France, Italy and the UK.
The Emirates also recorded an average hotel occupancy level of 93% throughout 2007. The aim now is to increase the number of people visiting RAK to 2.5 million by the year 2012.

Economy
RAK has benefited from both the overall growth of the UAE and its own proactive approach to diversification and investment generation. Despite the discovery of oil in the UAE in the 1960s and the consequent prosperity it brought, Ras Al Khaimah has so far only found a small percentage of the reserves, and therefore not enjoyed a boom similar to some of the other Emirates.

In 2007, a study concluded that Ras Al Khaimah only had 0.5% of the UAE’s entire oil reserves. This has led to RAK focusing on encouraging foreign investment in new areas such as real estate, tourism development as well as more traditional areas including agriculture and manufacturing.

The population of the Emirate has more than quadrupled in the last 20 years, from 43,845 in 1975 to approximately 250,000 in 2007.16 The Gross Domestic Product (GDP) has increased by approximately 36% from around USD 2.5 billion in 200517 to USD 3.4 billion in 2007.

The Emirates’ per capita income in 2008 was approaching USD16,000. This is remarkable considering that unlike its neighbours Ras Al Khaimah depends so little on its oil. It also has very little debt, estimated at 16.5% of GDP at the end of 2007.

Investment
RAK benefits from a strategic location, with connections to neighbouring countries via air, sea and its road network. The recent expansion of the Emirates Road between Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah is expected to positively contribute to the economic development of the Emirate, having reduced the travel time to Dubai to 45 minutes.

The government is also aiming to enhance the existing road network by replacing a 35 kilometre road between Al Nakheel and Al Shaam for AED 80 million. Free Trade Zones The Ras Al Khaimah government has undertaken numerous initiatives to attract foreign and domestic direct investment into the Emirate.

One of the first steps was the establishment of the Ras Al Khaimah Free Trade Zone (RAKFTZ) in May 2000, which is composed of three free zone parks: Technology Park, Industrial Park and Business Park.

The Free Trade Zone (FTZ) provides investors with several benefits, including 100%
repatriation of capital and profits, plus 100% foreign ownership of enterprise. The latter makes Ras Al Khaimah only the second Emirate within the UAE to permit foreign ownership other being Dubai.

By the end of the first half of 2008, a total of 847 new companies had registered with RAKFTZ, bringing the total companies in the free zone to 4,773. It is estimated that these companies contribute a total of AED 10 billion towards the Emirates’ economy.

Infrastructure
The government has been initiating infrastructure development projects within the
framework of its growth plans for the Emirate, for example, there are plans for a 700km long trans-Emirate railway which will cost USD 3 billion to build at current estimates.

The planned railway, which is expected to be complete in 2015, will link all seven Emirates with the border of Saudi Arabia and reduce the travel time between RAK and Dubai to 20 minutes.

Emirates Railway system is widely expected to increase the population of Dubai’s neighbouring Emirates as employees look for affordable properties and rents within
commutable distances. This will put upward pressure on property prices within these regions.