Editorial Column
How will the global credit crunch impact on the GCC?
- Gulf businessmen and women returning to their desks from the summer vacation are understandably concerned about what the tightening of global credit will mean for the GCC. Part of the problem globally is that nobody is entirely sure who has suffered most from exposure to US sub-prime mortgage bonds, and this is also an issue in the Middle East.
- Middle East: Sunday, September 09 - 2007 at 00:09 |
Are the Gulf's skies becoming too crowded?
- Airlines are rarely out of the news in the Gulf region. The newspapers are regularly chock-a-block with feel-good stories of plane acquisitions, route expansions or CEOs offering tasty sound bites on lofty ambitions for the future. Behind the success stories, however, there is always the odd failure and one or two regional carriers could be headed for a fall.
- Tuesday, August 28 - 2007 at 15:16 |
Dubai must watch out for less pleasant superlatives
- The tallest, the biggest, the fastest - superlatives such as these are what Dubai is all about at this point in time. Over the past few years especially, the city has been keen to maintain a frenetic speed of development and innumerable ostentatious projects have underlined the emirate's self-belief and, shall we say, chutzpah.
- United Arab Emirates: Sunday, August 05 - 2007 at 14:59 |
New escrow account law likely to dampen new property launches
- The new Law No 8 making escrow accounts compulsory for all Dubai off-plan developments, with money released only on the order of the Dubai Land Department marks an end to the days when any developer could launch a project and collect deposits without a guarantee that the funds would be used correctly.
- United Arab Emirates: Thursday, July 26 - 2007 at 16:35 |
US dollar in crisis, US stocks slump and credit spreads tighten
- The closing days of July are not usually a time for financial crises. And yet suddenly we have the US dollar down at its lowest level since 1981, a major hick-up on Wall Street and banks warning that bond pricing is becoming much tighter.
- United Arab Emirates: Wednesday, July 25 - 2007 at 08:46 |
Is Dr Bernanke right on oil and inflation?
- US Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke says inflation has been contained over the past two decades unlike the 1970s and that even higher oil prices have been absorbed without causing inflation. But is this really true?
- Sunday, July 15 - 2007 at 11:07 |
Why are investors so pessimistic about the gold price?
- With inflation and interest rates picking up around the world the gold price ought to be soaring upwards. And yet the correction of last summer has left investors fearful of a double top in gold prices and a resurgent dollar. It is the investment conundrum of 2007. Getting it right is a challenge for successful portfolio management.
- Sunday, June 24 - 2007 at 08:27 |
GCC bond issues aim to keep oil revenues in the region
- First it was GCC equities, then GCC property and now GCC Islamic bonds as the favored asset class to retain oil money in the region. This year Deutsche Bank estimates that global Islamic bond issues will grow from $20 billion to $50 billion.
- United Arab Emirates: Sunday, June 17 - 2007 at 07:54 |
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