How the Emirates pay, indexed.
Three signals built from real recovery data and public macro sources: the Payment Health Index, the DSO Benchmark, and the Excuse Index. Updated on a release calendar, with open methodology.
◆ Preview readings modelled from public sources — Atradius Payment Practices Barometer UAE 2026, with DSO benchmarks still on the 2025 basis because the 2026 edition publishes no numeric DSO; CBUAE; S&P Global UAE PMI — and Wusala methodology. Live readings begin as Wusala's book and partner network report in.
The board
| Index | Last | Prev. release | Change | Forecast | Note |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Payment Health Index WPHI | 46.8 | 46.8 | — | 47.1 | 50 = neutral |
| DSO — National DSO | 68 d | 68 d | — | 69 d | days sales outstanding |
| Overdue B2B rate OVRD | 40% | — | — | 41% | 2026 basis — not comparable with 2025 |
| Bad-debt write-off BADD | 2.0% | — | — | 2.1% | 2026 basis — not comparable with 2025 |
| Excuse — Cash-flow EXCU | 49% | — | — | 49% | 2026 basis — not comparable with 2025 |
Payment Health Index
Derived from public sources and Wusala methodology. Not book data, and not presented as transaction data. Atradius Payment Practices Barometer UAE 2025 · CBUAE · S&P Global UAE PMI.
0 / 150 — ≥150 resolved cases spanning ≥2 quarters
A single number for the direction of B2B payment behaviour, built like a PMI: above 50 improving, below 50 deteriorating. It weighs on-time rate, DSO drift, dispute rate, and promise-kept rate.
DSO Benchmark
Derived from public sources and Wusala methodology. Not book data, and not presented as transaction data. Atradius Payment Practices Barometer UAE 2025 · CBUAE.
0 / 40 — ≥40 client books, ≥30 invoices per sector cell, no single client >20% of a cell
Days-sales-outstanding by sector against the national average of 68 days. See where your sector sits — and where the drift is widening quarter on quarter.
The Excuse Index
Derived from public sources and Wusala methodology. Not book data, and not presented as transaction data. Atradius Payment Practices Barometer UAE 2026.
0 / 250 — ≥250 classified responses, ≥30 per category shown, spanning ≥2 sectors
The reasons debtors actually give for not paying — ranked, and trending. Our most talked-about signal: it tells you which excuses are rising, so you can close the gaps before they cost you.
of non-payment is blamed on “cash flow — awaiting our own customer”, the single most common excuse and rising +2 points. The chain of late payment is exactly what the Wusala Indexes are built to expose.
Payment health across the seven emirates
Derived from public sources and Wusala methodology. Not book data, and not presented as transaction data. CBUAE · Wusala methodology.
0 / 30 — ≥30 debtors per emirate — suppress thin cells rather than publish them
A stylised read on where in the UAE payment behaviour is healthiest — and where DSO runs longest. Hover an emirate for its reading.
Abu Dhabi and Dubai anchor the healthiest readings, carried by large government-linked and corporate payers. The northern emirates show longer DSO, consistent with a heavier SME and construction-supply mix. As Wusala’s book and partner network grow, this map moves from modelled to measured.
Honest about what this is — and what it will become.
What it is today
A preview edition. Readings are modelled from public sources — Atradius PPB UAE 2026, CBUAE, S&P Global UAE PMI — combined with Wusala's index methodology. They are directional, not audited book data.
What makes it live
As Wusala runs mandates, anonymised, aggregated payment outcomes replace the modelled inputs. No single client, debtor, or invoice is ever identifiable — only sector, emirate, and age-band aggregates.
Cadence & release
Indices refresh on a stated calendar. This edition is as of 23 Sep 2026, 09:00 GST; the next release is 7 Oct 2026. Every chart carries its own "as of" stamp so you always know how fresh a reading is.
Get the quarterly Payment Practices report
The deep edition — sector tables, emirate detail, and forecasts — delivered each quarter.
Check the inputs yourself.
Every public figure behind these readings comes from one of three places. An index nobody can audit is a claim, not an index, so the sources are linked rather than named in passing.
- Atradius Payment Practices Barometer — UAE 2026Overdue share, bad-debt write-offs, the reasons customers give for paying late, and past-due ageing. Published 11 August 2026.
- Central Bank of the UAECredit conditions and the regulatory backdrop the payment-health weighting is calibrated against.
- S&P Global UAE PMIThe macro proxy carried in the ticker. Above 50 is expansion; it moves ahead of payment behaviour, not with it.