|By K Raveendran| The agreement for the roll-over of $20 billion debt between Abu Dhabi and Dubai is expected to help Dubai refinance some of the other upcoming debt maturities with confidence, which depended a lot on the successful resolution of repayments owed to Abu Dhabi government and the UAE central bank, and continue to spend heavily on the ongoing infrastructure development. Dubai has already approached creditors […]
|By K Raveendran| Abu Dhabi is set to launch an inaugural issuance of treasury bills of around $1 billion this year, along with an issue of $500 million commercial debt by Sharjah to invest in capital projects, sources familiar with the subject reveal. Also on the cards s a sukuk issue by Ras Al Khaimah, which has to refinance about $400 million in debt coming due this […]
|By K Raveendran| Limitless, a major government related entity in the Dubai Inc, is understood to have approached lenders with a waiver request for the first amortization payment of $0.4 billion due in December 2014 under its 2012 debt restructuring agreement of a $1.2 billion loan. It was a similar waiver request in the past that had precipitated Dubai’s financial crisis beginning 2008. The $0.4 billion amortization […]
|By K Raveendran|The recent vote by the European Parliament to allow visa-free travel to Europe for UAE nationals and the reciprocal arrangement under which European citizens can visit the UAE without the need for pre-entry visas will be a tremendous boost to bilateral tourism. The development represents a major achievement for the UAE in terms of its standing in international comity. That this has come despite powerful […]
| By K Raveendran| Dubai is at such an interesting juncture that it lends itself to analyst opinions that are mutually challenging. There are enough silver lines on the horizon for those who tend to approach issues with a sense of optimism. But for those who are inclined to look the other way, there is an uneasy déjà vu setting in. As the local stock market gets […]
|By K Raveendran| Indians across the world celebrated the elevation of Satya Nadella as the new CEO of Microsoft. Dubai, with its compulsive spirit of celebration, was no exception. The talking point at the week-end parties in Emirates Hills and Arabian Ranches was none other than the Hyderabad techie, who, by virtue of his new role at the most admired company in the world, becomes the latest […]
By K. Raveendran | Special to Gulf News | 3/3/2006 According to WorldClimate, a portal that provides worldwide weather data over long periods of time, Singapore receives an average annual rainfall of about 240 cm and London some 61 cm per year. Compared to this, Dubai gets an average rainfall of only 10 cm for a full year. So, one might assume that buildings in Singapore and […]
K. Raveendran, Special to Gulf News When Dubai Islamic Bank announced the launch of its first property development in Dubai Marina in January last year, there was only a hint that the world’s first Islamic bank might be looking at the emirate’s booming real estate sector somewhat more seriously than the rest of the banks. But in less than a couple of years, DIB has emerged as […]
