UAE expects to be taken off EU’s tax blacklist

DUBAI: The United Arab Emirates expects to be taken off the European Union´s tax-haven blacklist after it meets criteria for transparency set by the EU, the UAE government said on Thursday.
"We have committed to a reform process which will be finalised by October 2018, and we are absolutely confident this will ensure the UAE is swiftly removed from the list," the government said in a statement.
On Tuesday, EU finance ministers adopted a blacklist of 17 jurisdictions deemed to be tax havens, including the UAE and Bahrain, in a step to counter worldwide tax avoidance. Countries on the blacklist may no longer be used by EU institutions for international financial operations, and transactions involving them could be subject to closer scrutiny. That could affect capital flows through the UAE, which is the Middle East´s main banking centre.