Dubai economy growing; city is lively
Dubai, November 12, 2012
Dubai's economy has been improving over the last two years and there is growth in every business sector, said Sheikh Ahmed bin Saeed al-Maktoum, the head of the emirate's Supreme Fiscal Committee, on Monday.
"There's growth in every business, especially in the tourism sector, aviation sector, business and insurance. Everyone says the city is lively," he said.
Sheikh Ahmed said Dubai sees no need to recapitalise the financial support fund which provides aid to indebted state-linked companies.
"No, we do not need to do anything like that. All the companies are doing well," Sheikh Ahmed told reporters in response to a question.
Sheikh Ahmed did not specify how much money was left in the Dubai Financial Support Fund, saying he did not remember the exact figure.
The fund's expenditure was estimated at 19.2 billion dirhams ($5.2 billion) in 2011, after 14.7 billion in 2010 and 48.9 billion in 2009, according to the International Monetary Fund.
Asked about the debt problems of Dubai's state-linked firms, which flared into a crisis in 2009, Sheikh Ahmed said: "Dubai is not worried. I believe we proved to the market that we overcame the problem we had as anybody else, as the rest of the world."
The head of Dubai's Department of Economic Development, Sami Al-Qamzi, said at an economic conference on Monday that Dubai's gross domestic product was expected to rise by more than 4 percent in 2013. - Reuters
