DUBAI: UAE is slashing its official working week to four-and-a-half days and moving its weekend to Saturday and Sunday in a major shift aimed at improving competitiveness, officials said on Tuesday.

The “national working week” is mandatory for government bodies from January 1.

Scott Livermore, chief economist at Oxford Economics Middle East, an advisory firm, said businesses could choose their working week but were likely to align with the public sector.

Under the new timetable, the public-sector weekend starts at noon on Fridays and ends on Sunday. Friday prayers at mosques will be held after 1:15 pm.

The move, which also includes schools, is intended to “better align the UAE with global markets”, said state news agency WAM, calling the new working week the world’s shortest.

“The UAE is the first nation in the world to introduce a national working week shorter than the global five-day week,” it said.

The UAE observed a Thursday-Friday weekend until 2006, when it moved to Fridays and Saturdays.

“The extended weekend comes as part of the UAE government’s efforts to boost work-life balance and enhance social wellbeing, while increasing performance to advance the UAE’s economic competitiveness,” the WAM report said.

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