Dubai is considering the introduction of a salary threshold for being eligible to own a car, Director General of Dubai Municipality Hussain Lootah told a local newspaper. This will encourage more people to use Dubai’s public transportation, he said. “There are more than 200 nationalities in Dubai,” he said. “I can’t see [education and awareness] having an effect. Adding that, “unless you go hard, no one will […]
Burj Khalifa is not only the tallest tower in the world, but it is also the most popular among tourists attraction in Dubai. The massive building was visited by a record number of visitors last year – 1.87 million. This means that in 2013 an average of 156,000 people visited Burj Klalifa every month. That is about 13% more compared to 2012, when the tower welcomed 1.66 […]
Pumping his fist into the Paris air, Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed Al Nahyan, an Abu Dhabi royal, celebrated the award of the 2020 World Expo to Dubai. A Dubai counterpart returned the favor three weeks later, hailing Abu Dhabi’s role in securing the event. The backslapping late last year signaled the ever-closer relationship between the sheikhdoms at the core of the seven-member United Arab Emirates, one a […]
For a bellwether, Emaar Properties — builder of the world’s tallest tower — has done quite well for itself in the past year: reflecting Dubai’s meteoric real estate sector recovery with a 104% gain in 2013 that underpinned the stock market’s stellar performance. On Tuesday, Emaar’s stock rallied another 6.3% to 8.24 dirhams ($2.25) – its highest closing level since early September 2008, when Dubai’s much celebrated […]
GEMS Education celebrated the listing of a $200 million (AED 735 million) Sukuk on NASDAQ Dubai on Tuesday, with founder and Chairman Sunny Varkey ringing the market opening bell at Dubai Financial Market (DFM). The nominal value of Sukuk currently listed in Dubai has now reached $13.28 billion (AED 48.8 billion). More than 50% of that sum, amounting to $6.85 billion (AED 25.2 billion), has come from […]
The head of Dubai’s Chamber of Commerce strongly disagrees with the estimate of how many jobs the city’s 2020 Expo win will bring to the emirate – he thinks it will be way more. Analysts have calculated that Dubai’s world fair triumph will create 277,000 jobs, about 14 per cent of the current population of Dubai. But not only does Hamad Buamim reckon the figure is feasible, […]
|The Arabian Post Special| Reports suggest Dubai has reached an agreement with Abu Dhabi on $20 billion of debt, which it arranged to avert a payment default in the wake of Dubai’s crippling financial crisis. “The rumor is that Abu Dhabi has reached an arrangement with Dubai over the $20 billion payment,” Reuters quoted Mohammed Ali Yasin, managing director of NBAD Securities LLC, as saying on phone. […]
By Simeon Kerr The many daily flights between Dubai and Tehran are always busy. But these days the Iranians heading home after business and shopping trips are being joined by rising numbers of briefcase-toting western and Asian passengers. They are part of a new wave of foreign investors eager to investigate business opportunities in post-sanctions Iran, a potentially lucrative trade that Dubai, the commercial hub of the […]
Dubai has initiated a series of bold new measures and incentives including fee waivers and reduced approval timeline for three and four star hotel projects to further stimulate the growth of its vibrant hospitality sector. His Highness Shaikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE, in his capacity as the Ruler of Dubai, on Monday pronounced a string of directives to this […]
Dubai’s office spaces are witnessing an “uptick in activity” in the wake of the city’s winning Expo 2020 bid, with growing demand in Business Bay and Jebel Ali. According to Property Finder Group, job creation between 2013 and 2021 is estimated at over 277,000 and a number of major international corporates and start-ups are expected to establish their offices in Dubai in the years leading up to […]
|By Asa Fitch| Iranian traders in Dubai are guardedly hopeful that business will rebound as sanctions relief begins to go into effect next week. The European Union and U.S. are set to give Iran access to some of its oil revenues abroad and allow for freer trade in energy products providing the Islamic Republic meets the terms of a six-month agreement stipulating monitoring of nuclear facilities and […]
By Parag Deulgaonkar An increasing number of developers in Dubai are issuing final termination notices to investors before their properties are foreclosed for non-payment of dues. Since the beginning of the year, developers such as Damac Properties, Time Properties, The Wave LLC, Triplanet International and ETA Star have issued notices, asking defaulters to rectify their status by paying the monies due. These notices are mandatory according to […]
Dubai plans new rules to control speculation on properties sold before they’re built after home prices climbed by more than 30 percent last year, the head of the emirate’s Land Department said. The real estate authority plans to complete a review of what are known as off-plan transactions in the first quarter and may introduce new regulations in the second or third quarter, Land Department General Director […]
Nakheel PJSC’s plan to pay more than $1 billion of bank debt early may herald further gains for the Dubai real-estate developer’s Islamic bonds. Mashreq Capital DIFC Ltd. and Quantum Investment Bank Ltd. said Nakheel’s payments might help extend a rally that cut its sukuk yield by 215 basis points in the past 12 months to a record 6.58 percent Jan. 3, according to data compiled by […]
Dubai Group LLC, the investment company that has been seeking payment relief on loans for the past three years, repaid a $300 million syndicated facility led by Citigroup Inc., two people with knowledge of the matter said. Some of the lenders will exit talks on Dubai Group’s $6 billion debt pile, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. The Islamic […]
Dubai has emerged as one of the best performing stock markets globally in 2013, according to Global Equity International, a global consultancy that advises business leaders. By the end of November, the Dubai benchmark stock index had increased by 82%. Abu Dhabi appreciated by 46% during the same period. The Dubai Financial Market started the year strongly by appreciating 16 per cent in the month of January […]
The Index tower on Dubai’s answer to Wall Street has 23 floors of empty offices out of the 25 it opened in 2011. A few hundred feet away, buildings controlled by the Dubai International Financial Centre are almost full. The difference is ownership. The office space in the Index on Sheikh Zayed Road was sold in pieces to nine different investors under a system known as strata […]
After suffering steep declines in trade starting in 2012, seaborne transfer of goods between Iran and Dubai is picking up again, highlighting the U.A.E.’s delicate balancing act in maintaining important commercial ties and satisfying its Western allies. A combination of economic factors in Iran — attributed to tough international sanctions over its contested nuclear activities — resulted in a decrease in trade with the U.A.E. from $24 […]
Dubai is considering tests of ‘robot’ or driverless cars on its busy highways, the local transport agency said, after a Google executive told Al Arabiya News he would “love” to bring the technology to the emirate. So-called driverless cars navigate traffic and road signals automatically, using special sensors like radar, GPS and computer vision. Dubai’s Roads and Transport Authority (RTA) says it is considering whether to allow […]
Dubai’s benchmark stock index rose to the highest in more than five years as the emirate starts regulating the holiday home rental market and construction company Arabtec Holding PJSC won a contract. The DFM General Index advanced 0.6 percent to 3,031.80, the highest since November 2008, at 12:13 p.m. in Dubai. The measure has surged 87 percent this year, making it one of the world’s best performers […]
The giant inflatable duck that appeared on Dubai Creek this week has caused a stir after it emerged it is not a piece of art that has toured the world – but is in fact a replica bought in China. 7DAYS reported on Monday how people went quackers for the 18m rubber bird that was launched on the creek on Sunday. It was part of a campaign […]
Dubai’s benchmark stock index rallied the most in more than two months after the emirate won the right to host the World Expo 2020. The DFM General Index advanced 4 percent to 3,015.65 at 10:02 a.m. in the city, bringing the gain for the year to 86 percent. Emaar Properties , builder of the world’s biggest shopping mall by floor space, jumped 3 percent and Dubai Investments […]
Dubai’s economy expanded 4.9 percent in the first half of 2013, led by the hotel and restaurant industry, as the Middle East’s financial and transport hub rebounds from its debt crisis. Gross domestic product expanded to 169 billion dirhams ($46 billion), the statistics office said in an e-mailed statement today. Growth quickened from a 4 percent pace in the first half of 2012. The hotels and restaurants […]
With the D-day approaching fast for the award of the 2020 Expo, everyone in Dubai is excited about a most likely successful Dubai bid. Amidst all the fanfare, however, there is a lurking fear about the impact of a successful bid on the emirate’s real estate sector. Those who do worry have one overriding concern: that Expo fever will tip an already overheating property market into bubble […]
