Abu Dhabi and Dubai Blog

In late July, the company set out its debt restructuring plan, including a time frame over which it would consider selling assets to raise funds to repay lenders. Since then it has been holding a series of roadshows to explain the plan in detail to creditors.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/c96aea94-b07e-11df-8c04-00144feabdc0.html

Some good financial analysis on the shifting economic power arrangements of the UAE since the devastating crash of last year:

Abu Dhabi has pumped $15 billion into Dubai since last year, providing proof of the strength of the federation but also evidence of a power shift within the union. The Dubai Financial Market may have lost 25% of its value since November and Dubai World has yet to agree to a deal with banks on its remaining $22 billion debt pile, but the principles of the union have passed a stern test. However, the outcome is likely to be that Abu Dhabi takes a more dominant role in the U.A.E. while Dubai takes a back seat. While Dubai has sold assets overseas to help pay its bills, Abu Dhabi has continued to invest by building stakes in household names like Daimler and Barclays.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703862704575099750771561886.html?mod=WSJ_latestheadlines

Three reasons why Dubai’s doom is greatly exaggerated:

First, the very fact that almost all of the emirate’s labour is foreign is a boon. Simply put, there will be no long lines at the unemployment office. There will be no public or parliamentary debate over how to help those who are now out of work. If you lose your job and you’re a foreigner, you’ll be on the next plane to wherever you came from in the first place. If you happen to be one of the 250,000 working Emiratis (not even half of whom are in Dubai), then you won’t lose your job to begin with, or you’ll be re-assigned or given some government post. For Dubai, just like the other small Gulf sheikhdoms, the economic crisis does not automatically translate into a social issue.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/mar/17/credit-crunch-dubai

…but the frenzied pace of development in Dubai and elsewhere in the United Arab Emirates is grinding to a halt and the over-the-top extravagance on full display late last month at places like the new Atlantis, at the tip of one of Dubai’s three man-made, palm-tree shaped island archipelagos, may soon be a thing of the past.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2008/1204/p06s01-wome.html

But now Dubai’s debt-driven splurge on flashy hotels and residential properties is not looking as stable as Abu Dhabi’s more stealthy oil-driven expansion, especially as a bursting of the property bubble and a crunch on credit are hurting financial activity in Dubai.

http://www.forbes.com/economy/2008/11/24/dubai-abu-dhabi-markets-econ-cx_ll_1224markets12.html

“When tourists and expatriates arrive in Dubai, the first thing they want to do is explore the city’s wonders. This can be challenging as there is limited public transport at present and taxis can be hard to come by during peak periods.”

http://www.albawaba.com/en/countries/UAE/237957