Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) will play a major role in supporting the planned infrastructure projects both within Dubai and the wider region, says Jeffery Singer, CEO of the Dubai International Financial Centre Authority (DIFCA).  

Infrastructure spending in Dubai is expected to rise in the coming years, following the emirate’s successful bid to host the Expo 2020.  Investment in infrastructure across the GCC is also forecast to rise.

“These projects will be funded by bankers and asset managers from the DIFC who will be using our rules and regulations to do creative types of products and financing,” Jeffrey Singer told delegates at MEED’s Destination Dubai 2020 event on 28 January. “They will also use DIFC courts for company jurisdiction. They will not do these deals if they don’t feel safe.”  

He added that “investor sentiment [in Dubai] is very high”.

Finding foreign investment will be vital to financing the billions of dollars-worth of infrastructure spending planned in the region.

“[Securing international investors] is essential to ensure these schemes get funded. If we rely solely on the region, it might be a little bit difficult,” he said.

Singer said the DIFC would also act as a financial gateway between the major growing economies in South Asia and Africa.

“Many of the banks and financial institutions coming now into the DIFC are taking advantage of this new south-south corridor of trade… and it is not being funded by the typical banks in the west,” he said.