While the UAE is lauded for the generosity of its international aid budget, less heralded but similarly significant has been the nation's indirect contribution to raising the living standards of tens of millions of people around the world: remittances from those working here.
Whether it is low-skilled workers who spend years away from their loved ones so their children can attend university, others who are using the stability and peace of the Emirates to rebuild their lives after discord in their homelands or even just the already well-off padding their retirement funds, the UAE's foreign workforce is a powerful force for human betterment.
But for all those who come to the Emirates and create a better life for themselves and their families, there are also some who land themselves in an even bigger financial mess. Most of the time, these problems stem from a lack of financial literacy.
All this explains the importance of the range of initiatives that either increase the fiscal smarts of those working here or act to prevent them getting into trouble in the first place.
These include the Pinoy Wise Movement, as reported in The National yesterday, that aims to educate Filipinos in the UAE of better ways to providing for their families than just sending remittances home.
Another way of preventing workers here getting into trouble will be the long-awaited Al Etihad Credit Bureau, which shares information between banks so those deeply in debt cannot simply go to another bank and get a new credit card to continue their spending.
Most people who come to the Emirates find a better standard of living, not least because of the tax-free incomes. Some will simply improve their lifestyle to match the new income, and a few of those will go even further and give in to the temptation to live beyond their means.
This is why both types of approach - teaching financial literacy and stricter controls of credit - are needed.
The UAE is known not only as a place that welcomes foreign workers but also for the strictness of its laws about bad debts. Nobody wants to see more people incarcerated for having become irretrievably in debt when they ought to have been using the opportunity to create a better life for themselves and their families.
