In an effort to attract more investment, the Financial Times said the UAE government had informed major business families in the country that it planned to stop its monopoly on the sale of imported goods.

In a report today, the British newspaper said that for decades multinational companies had to hire local partners to distribute their goods in the Emirates.

The UAE Government has now proposed legislation to end the automatic renewal of existing trade agency agreements, thereby giving foreign companies flexibility to distribute their own goods or change their local agent at the end of the contract.

The Emirati official was quoted as saying: "It no longer makes sense for individual Emirati families to have such power and preferential access to easy wealth. We need to modernize our economy, "noting that the new law is expected to be approved by the UAE leadership, but the timing remains uncertain. The Government of the United Arab Emirates has not provided any comment.

According to the Financial Times, the proposed reform would lead to a long-term "rupture of the social contract" between the Government and influential Emirati business families, including names such as Al-Fatim, Al-Rastmani and Al-Masjid, to replace decades of protection for domestic interests in favour of foreign entities.

Family-owned enterprises, from small businesses to conglomerates built over decades by leading business groups, account for 90 per cent of the private sector in the United Arab Emirates, which itself accounts for about three quarters of employment.

In recent years, some foreign newcomers, including Apple and Tesla, have been allowed to open their own stores without local agents. Other multinational companies are asking their local partners to change the Agency's agreements into joint ventures, giving them greater control over marketing and increased potential returns.