Tag Archives : investments

Debt and the institutional accumulation of it are wracking the world. Dubai’s case might just be a harbinger of a series of blowups that is soon to follow. Fact is, there are similar financial trouble spots across the globe right now. The ‘one-time wonderland in the desert’ that is now struggling to pay its bills, is not a lone and isolated case. [...]

‘A significant chunk of Dubai’s debt is in the form of Sharia-compliant bonds.’ What is unique with these ‘increasingly popular instruments’ is that lenders are forbidden to collect interest. It is now unclear how Dubai’s default will affect these Islamic lenders who gave these funds under a ‘partner-like relationship with the borrower.’ [...]

59-year old Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum has seen his personal fortunes plummet from $12 billion down to $6 billion because of the ongoing global recession, as well as some other reasons. Dubai, an emirate of the United Arab Emirates, ‘was forced to ask for a handout from neighbor Abu Dhabi when credit markets tanked.’ Nonetheless, [...]

A weak and uncertain statement from the UAE has stoked ‘fears of tension between emirates,’ The panic question among businessmen in the region is whether Dubai will default or not. Some investors are quick to defend the emirate. According to Thani al-Falaasi, a businessman in Dubai, “Only a few decades ago, this country was nothing, just a desert. [...]

The government of Dubai heightened investor panic just a bit more when it recently announced that it will not bail out its own chief financial investment arm, Dubai World. The government said that ‘even though struggling Dubai World is state owned, the government won’t guarantee its debts or bail it out.’ According to Abdulrahman Al Saleh, director [...]

The government of Dubai has taken over its flagship company, Dubai World. The surprising move has caused ‘panic throughout the region, and translated into a selloff in bank stocks in Europe and Asia.’ To top that, ‘the government also aims to delay payments on $60 billion in debt, a request that caused the price of insuring debt in emerging economies [...]

The invitation applies to big-time developers and financiers, that is. Major industry players the world over will definitely be enticed by the country’s proven reserves of 115 billion barrels, the third largest in the world after Saudi Arabia and Iran. Millions of barrels more lie undiscovered. Unlike Saudi Arabia and Iran where the respective oil [...]

While the current recession may be pinching them a bit, some of the world’s billionaires see the proverbial silver lining in the global economic rain clouds. Credit their healthy outlook on money, maybe. They earned their billions, so what can stop them from earning more? – well, only the (real) end of the world, perhaps. Forbes magazine released [...]