Business interruption insurance in the UAE

What does business interruption insurance cover?

It covers the gross profit you lose after an insured event interrupts your trading. GIG Gulf’s page calls the product consequential loss of profit and covers loss of gross profit after material damage from fire, lightning, storm, hurricane, earthquake, volcanic eruption, flood, impact damage or another insured peril at the insured premises.¹

Does it depend on a property claim?

On GIG Gulf’s page it does. The page says the policy is valid only when there is an admissible claim under the property material damage policy. The interruption period starts from the date of the loss, with a two-week deductible, and runs until turnover and profit return to their level before the loss.¹

A broker’s page links business interruption to fires, electrical faults, thefts, cyberattacks and water damage.

Ask your insurer whether a non-physical event, such as a cyberattack, can trigger cover.

Do you have to buy it?

No law requiring it has been identified. One business setup firm’s table calls it a commercial choice.² Decree-Law 6 of 2025, Art 82, only says where cover for funds, property and liabilities in the UAE is placed, which is with licensed insurers. It does not name business interruption.³

Two other places can ask for it:

• A lease. KEZAD’s standard lease terms have the tenant insure business interruption for a period of at least two years, alongside contents, civil liability, workers’ compensation and employer’s liability.⁴
• A construction contract. A construction contract may deal with a related cover. One law firm guide describes delay in start-up cover as employer cover for losses from late completion, also called advanced loss of profits. It says liquidated damages are customarily capped at 10% of the contract price.⁵

Check your lease, lender documents and contract for a required period of cover before you buy.

What does the Civil Code say about your policy?

It leaves the terms to your contract. Art 955 defines insurance as payment on the risk specified in the contract. Art 963 limits the insurer to damage from the insured risk, up to the sum insured. Art 966 makes claims inadmissible 3 years after the event, with exceptions.⁶

Check the claim deadline in your policy.

Does the Central Bank publish figures for this cover?

The Central Bank report does not show business interruption separately.⁷ The property page has the fire and property figures.

The small print

• Earlier lease. A warehouse and plot lease filed with the US SEC in 2022 (cl 21.1.4) also names business interruption for two years, to the extent available.⁸
• Force majeure. Civil Code Art 236 ends the corresponding obligations and rescinds a bilateral contract where force majeure makes performance impossible. Partial impossibility lets a party invoke extinguishment or ask a court to rescind. Art 224 lets a court reduce an onerous obligation or rescind the contract after exceptional, general and unforeseeable events, and any contrary agreement is void. Neither article mentions insurance or lost profit.⁶
• April 2024 storm. The storm brought 254.8 mm in 24 hours at Khatm al-Shakla.⁹ Guy Carpenter’s May 2025 paper estimates Gulf insured losses at around USD 3 billion in its summary and USD 2.9 billion to USD 3.4 billion in its body, with no business interruption share stated.¹⁰ The Central Bank report does not mention the storm.
• Placement exceptions. Art 82(4) of Decree-Law 6 of 2025 gives exceptions to the placement rule, including cover not available in the State.³
• Insurer wording. The GIG Gulf points above come from a product page, not a policy wording. One insurer only.