Residents in the United Arab Emirates continue to be upbeat about the state of their finances, while fewer and fewer report they are seeing any impact from the introduction of value-added tax (VAT) on goods and services since last year, according to a new survey released on Tuesday.

The Consumer Confidence Tracker Q1 2019 from financial website yallacompare surveyed around 1,000 UAE residents on the state of their finances and attitudes towards work.

The results found that 21 percent of respondents feel more confident about their finances than they did 12 months ago, compared to 22 percent in Q4 last year and 14 percent in Q3 2018.