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UAE Special Report: Dubai's tourism sector hits record highs
The volume of traffic on Sheikh Zayed road gives an insight into the state of Dubai’s economy
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UAE Special Report: Ownership law to boost capital markets
The approval of a new companies law by the UAE parliament in December is a major step towards what could potentially be the biggest shake-up in the country’s corporate history
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UAE Special Report: Cautious reforms follow Arab uprisings
It might not be the recovery that many were hoping for, but the Washington-headquartered World Bank expects the UAE economy to grow by 3.3 per cent this year and by a further 3.8 per cent in 2012
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UAE Special Report: Real estate keeps inflation down
One of the positive side-effects of the economic downturn was the end of runaway inflation in the UAE
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UAE Special Report: Shah gas critical to UAE economy
Abu Dhabi’s Shah gas project is moving forward at last
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Special Report: Banking - Financial firms shift focus beyond Gulf market
During the past decade, international banks have been racing to expand their presence in the GCC, looking to cash in on a boom in demand for credit
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Special Report: UAE - The emirates forced to look to others to meet its energy needs
Despite being a country that ranks among the world’s largest hydrocarbons producers, the UAE is becoming increasingly dependent on gas imports
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Special report: UAE banking - Learning the lessons of the crisis
After the breakneck pace of credit growth during 2003-08, the current cautious attitude to lending among the UAE banks should be seen as positive
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Special Report: GCC – Euro crisis has lessons for planned GCC currency union
The crisis that has played out across the eurozone in recent months offers a timely lesson for the GCC member states and their proposed single currency
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Special Report: UAE credit agency receives mandate
It is now 20 months since Lehman Brothers’ collapse triggered a world-wide financial crisis. And during this time, the flaws inherent in Dubai’s economic model have been brutally exposed, revealing that government entities, corporates and individuals alike had massively overextended themselves in order to buy into the Dubai dream.
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Special Report: UAE - Dubai downturn forces strategy rethink
Dubai may not have much oil, but its economy still relies heavily on oil revenues, albeit those of neighbouring Abu Dhabi.
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Special Report: UAE - Dubai's woes hit northern emirates
Until the northern emirates have a reliable infrastructure, their economic fortunes will rise and fall with those of their powerful neighbour Dubai – something they are understandably keen to change.
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Special Report: Power & Water - Gulf opts for oil-fired plants
Just seven months ago, in March, the Abu Dhabi government released a report saying that the economic and environmental cost of using oil as a fuel for power plants was too high to be considered
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Special Report: UAE - Dubai faces up to economic challenges
Omar bin Sulaiman, governor of the Dubai International Financial Centre and vice-chairman of the Central Bank of the UAE, declared on 13 October that the worst of the region’s financial crisis was over
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Special Report: Real Estate - Downturn hits office space supply in Dubai
The days of Dubai government-owned property firms competing with each other to launch the most eye-catching real estate developments are long gone
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Special Report: Islamic banking - The top 20 Gulf institutions
Islamic banks may account for only a small proportion of the world banking industry, but these days they are healthier than most of their conventional peers
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Special Report: GCC - Power grid raises hopes of regional co-operation
The rulers of the six GCC member states will find little to cheer about when they meet for the council’s annual meeting in December, which this year is being hosted by Kuwait
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Special Report: Healthcare & Pharmaceuticals - Private equity funds growth
Improving the quality of healthcare is a critical policy challenge for governments across the GCC, with heavy investment needed to build large, modern facilities after decades of underinvestment.
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Construction Special Report: Gulf project costs fall
As construction companies’ confidence in the Dubai real estate market has drained away over the past six months, so the average price of construction materials in the UAE has dropped.
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Special Report: Construction - Project costs drop in the Gulf
As construction companies’ confidence in the Dubai real estate market has drained away over the past six months, so the average price of construction materials in the UAE has dropped.
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Special Report: Real Estate - Revival of Gulf low-cost housing
For anyone unfamiliar with the Gulf’s real estate sector, the news that there is strong demand for affordable housing may come as a surprise.
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Special Report: Banking - Gulf institutions move to balance the books
The Gulf’s 20 leading banks have formed a breakaway pack that has maintained its lead over the past 12 months. MEED’s ranking of the top 20 GCC banks by asset size at the end of December 2008 features the same institutions that were on the list in 2007.
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Special Report: UAE - Federal support boosts confidence
The president of the UAE’s official visit to Dubai in early May was a rare public show of support for the emirate.
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Special Report: Construction - State funding fuels regional activity
Gulf developers are slowly adjusting to the idea that the region needs more affordable homes. While there are still enough cash-rich buyers in the market to provide some demand for high-end developments, the cash-poor status of many developers means that building lower-cost houses, for which there is larger, proven demand, makes more business sense.
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Special Report: Metals & Mining - Gulf defies slump in metals and mining markets
Saudi Arabia’s plans for the aluminium industry, which encompass every stage in the supply chain from mine to smelter, will be a rare example of integrated production in the Gulf.
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Special Report: Hotel Investment & Tourism - Budget brands expand
The Middle East’s hotel industry has enjoyed startling growth over the past few years. According to global business advisory firm Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu, hotels have recorded a five-year run of double-digit growth in revenue per available room - a key indicator of profit.
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Special Report: Major projects - Reshaping regional cities
The region’s major cities are responding to unprecedented population growth by drawing up masterplans which will reshape the region’s urban centres, from Abu Dhabi to Algiers.
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Special Report: UAE - Emirates strengthen federal ties
The UAE economic model has come under unprecedented strain in recent months, with Dubai in particular suffering a severe reversal in fortunes.
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Special Report: Oil & Gas Contractor Survey - Caution slows contract awards
On paper, the number of pending contract awards on oil and gas projects in the Gulf is healthy. There are 55 such projects worth more than $1bn, each in various stages of planning.
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Special Report: MEED 100 - The Middle East's top 100 listed companies in 2009
Saudi Arabian companies dominate this year’s MEED 100, with companies listed on the Tadawul accounting for 29 out of the region’s 100 biggest publicly quoted companies ranked by market capitalisation. Just three of the 20 companies that have dropped out of the top 100 over the past year are listed on the Saudi stock exchange.
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Special Report: Construction - Gulf contractors under pressure
Clients have stopped inviting firms to bid for new projects, contract awards are being revoked and designers are being told to redesign their schemes. All this would have been unthinkable in the Gulf six months ago, but it is now the reality.
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Special Report: Tourism & Real Estate - Visitor numbers slide
Dubai has some of the world’s most expensive hotel room rates, with charges for one night averaging $370 in October 2008. But with most of the world falling into recession, such prices could be hard to sustain this year.
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Special Report: Banking - Private banks beat financial turmoil
Private banking is staging a comeback. The Gulf’s first oil boom in the 1970s prompted the region’s wealthy individuals to put their profits into Europe’s private banks.
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Special Report: UAE - Dubai debt tests federal structure
Managers at Dubai Electricity & Water Authority (Dewa) can be forgiven for breathing a sigh of relief. Just as Dubai’s insatiable appetite for electricity threatened to overwhelm the authority, the emirate’s hunger for power is subsiding.
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Special Report: GCC - Leaders prepare for crucial summit
If all goes to plan, next month’s GCC summit in Muscat will give the go-ahead for construction to start in 2010 on the long-discussed GCC regional railway.
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Special Report: Healthcare - GCC states broaden private sector role
The Levant’s pedigree in medical training has benefited the Gulf for a long time.
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Special Report: Real Estate 100 - The Gulf's top developers
For Dubai’s major real estate developers, the UAE is no longer big enough. MEED’s list of the Gulf’s 100 biggest property developers may focus solely on the GCC market, but the largest companies on the list are now exploring opportunities outside the Gulf.
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Special Report: Banking - The rise of Islamic finance
Since questions were raised earlier this year over the compliance with sharia law of a common form of sukuk (Islamic bond), doomsayers have warned of the impending demise of Islamic finance.
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Special Report: Aviation & Airports - Soaring fuel costs hit airlines
Few sectors have been hit harder by rising fuel costs than the aviation industry. High oil prices have already driven several airlines out of business and grounded older, less fuel-efficient planes.
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Special Report: Banking - Gulf bank growth accelerates
There is consensus in the banking community that 2008 will be a much better year for the industry than 2007. A stormy 2007 revealed the full impact on banks of the 20-month-long market crash that began in February 2006, which triggered severe falls in advisory fees.
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Special Report: Petrochemicals - Firms seek new feedstocks
Nothing is more indicative of the region’s struggle to source ethane than the decision of a country with the world’s fifth-largest natural gas reserves to turn to oil-derived feedstock.
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Special Report: Petrochemicals - Firms seek new feedstocks
Nothing is more indicative of the region’s struggle to source ethane than the decision of a country with the world’s fifth-largest natural gas reserves to turn to oil-derived feedstock.
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Special Report: Abu Dhabi - Reforms deliver strong growth
In comparison with Dubai, Abu Dhabi has followed a low-profile, slower-moving development path. But this is changing.
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Special Report: Hotel investment - The rise of regional hotel brands
Developers across the Gulf are realising that the branding of their hotels and apartments is critical to their future competitiveness.
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Special Report: Construction - The move to partnership
Despite much talk over the past few years about the introduction of long-term alliances between construction clients and contractors, partnering agreements remain rare in the region.
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Special report: UAE - Impact of the cabinet reshuffle
Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum’s cabinet reshuffle in February is aimed at sustaining momentum on his strategic plan announced in 2007.
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Special Report: GCC construction sector - Branching Out
Liberalising the property market has boosted the GCC construction sector, but challenges remain for both governments and developers alike.
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Special report: UAE - Developing the northern emirates
It was 18th century German philosopher Immanuel Kant who said that the best way to predict the future was to invent it. This is a lesson that some in the UAE understand better than others.
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Special report: GCC - Increasing global influence
The Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) plan to provide enriched uranium to nuclear power plants across the Middle East represents a bold attempt to defuse the international crisis surrounding Iran’s nuclear programme. It also represents the organisation’s first significant step onto the international diplomatic stage.
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Special report: Power surge
Private developers have benefited from massive growth in the region’s power sector over the past 12 months, with capacity up by more than one-third as governments increasingly bring in outside help to meet soaring demand.
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Special report: Power surge
Private developers have benefited from massive growth in the region’s power sector over the past 12 months, with capacity up by more than one-third as governments increasingly bring in outside help to meet soaring demand.
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Special Report: Road construction
The Gulf construction market is entering a new phase as resources start to catch up with the project mountain and the balance shifts back from the contractor to the client.
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