Sports
Dubai’s GDP grew by 4.4% in 2012, new figures show
Dubai's gross domestic product (GDP) increased by 4.4 per cent in 2012, new figures have confirmed.According to the Dubai Statistics Centre, the emirate's economy expanded at its fastest rate since 2007 over the course of the year.The city fell on hard times during the global financial crisis – with GDP contracting by 2.7 per cent in 2009 – but this latest report highlights just how strongly it has recovered. GDP rose by 3.5 per cent in 2010 and then increased by 3.6 per cent in 2011.This shows the sheikhdom has been heading in the right direction for a few years now and experts think this trend will continue for the foreseeable future.Bloomberg reports the cost of servicing its debt declined rapidly in the past 12 months, which is another indication that the government has brought things under control. Borrowing costs also plummeted in 2012, the news provider revealed.Unsurprisingly, it was the hospitality and tourism sectors that contributed the most towards Dubai's improved performance last year, with restaurants and hotels having a particularly successful 12 months.More resorts reported increased occupancy levels and this has prompted developers to start erecting new hotels in the most popular parts of the city.This means the construction industry – which had been badly affected by the global economic collapse – has found its feet again and anybody who has visited Dubai recently will have seen the cranes moving once more.Businesses throughout the emirate are certainly confident that things are looking up and a study conducted by the Department of Economic Development last month showed that firms are expecting to boost their profits in the second quarter of 2013.Indeed, as many as 91 per cent of the companies that took part in the survey are predicting bumper revenues during the three-month period.On hearing the results, director of the department His Excellency Sami Al Qamzi said Dubai's construction, aviation, logistics and property sectors are all flourishing. Continue reading
College football could be coming to Dubai
Dubai could stage a major US college football 'bowl' in the future, sources have suggested.Some of the less established teams in the North American country are keen to take some of the limelight away from the larger 'Power Five' conferences and a new finale could be the answer.ESPN reports that nine locations have been earmarked for a possible college football extravaganza, four of which are outside the US. As well as Dubai, football chiefs are also considering taking the sport to Dublin, Toronto and Nassau in the Bahamas.Ken Hoffman, chairman and executive director of the Little Caesars Bowl, told the sports news broadcaster that he has been talking to some of the smaller conferences about possibly adding a new bowl in a foreign country.Meanwhile, another source was quoted as saying: “The smaller 'Group of Five' conferences are exploring adding bowl games because they are being locked out by the big boys.”They're looking to create bowl games so their teams will have bowls for their bowl-eligible teams.”American football is becoming increasingly popular all around the world and the annual Superbowl – which features the two best teams in the National Football League (NFL) – is one of the most watched televised sporting occasions on the planet.In fact, some high-profile games have been staged in different countries in recent years and have pulled in sell-out crowds, most notably at London's Wembley Stadium.Although college football is not on the same level as NFL, it is still extremely well supported and is starting to attract more interest from outside the US.Some critics believe there are already too many bowls held each year, but moving one of college football's showpiece events to the Middle East could be a masterstroke.Dubai has already demonstrated the fact it is more than capable of hosting top-class sporting events, with major golf and tennis competitions taking place in the city each year. Rumours have also been circulating that the emirate could stage a high-profile boxing match later this year. Continue reading
MSCI upgrades UAE, Qatar to emerging markets
MSCI upgrades UAE, Qatar to emerging markets Muzaffar Rizvi / 12 June 2013 The UAE and Qatar finally elevated to emerging market by the global index compiler MSCI that will boost investor sentiment and attract foreign investment inflows into the region. With this long-awaited MSCI up-gradation, the UAE and Qatari shares are expected to attract approximately one per cent, or up to $500 million, of total global investments in the emerging markets space annually only after the reclassification takes effect in May next year. However, the two Gulf States will see a gradual surge in foreign investment inflows of up to $3 billion over a period of time. An investor monitors electronic stock boards at the Dubai Financial Market in Dubai. KT photo by Rahul Gajjar “The reclassifications of the MSCI Qatar and MSCI UAE Indices will coincide with the May 2014 Semi Annual Index Review while the reclassifications of the MSCI Greece and MSCI Morocco Indices will coincide with the November 2013 Semi Annual Index Review,” MSCI said in its yearly market classification report, posted on its website early Wednesday. Speaking on a conference call, MSCI managing director and global head of index research Remy Briand said Qatar and UAE stock markets would have a greater share in MSCI Emerging Market Index as compared to Greece, which downgraded from developed market. “Qatar and UAE will have a 0.45 per cent and 0.45 weight in the MSCI Emerging Market Index compared to Greece’s 0.3 per cent,” he said. The New York-based Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) currently has its country indices for both UAE and Qatar. In the UAE Index, the developer includes stocks such as Emaar Properties, DP World, ADCB and NBAD, but it is still unclear that all of these shares will be included in the Emerging Market Index. Dubai Financial Market (DFM) was first to welcome the MSCI annual market classification review to upgrade the MSCI UAE Index to emerging markets status. Essa Kazim, managing director and chief executive, Dubai Financial Market, said: “This significant step evidently demonstrates international institutions’ recognition of DFM’s pivotal role over the last three years to further enhance the UAE market infrastructure in collaboration with the Securities and Commodities Authority of UAE (SCA). This development is overdue in light of the market infrastructure improvements made and ticking of all upgrade requirements long time ago.” A media statement by the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) said the DFM is amongst the best performing exchanges globally since the beginning of the year with its market index up by almost 50 per cent to rank amongst the best performing exchanges. The average daily trading value increased 67 per cent to Dh460 million compared to Dh278.2 million in the corresponding period of 2012, the statement said. “We are delighted to see the UAE market upgraded to emerging markets status, which reflects international investors’ confidence in our markets and their satisfaction with what we have accomplished,” Kazim said. MSCI said international institutional investors recognised the improvements made by the UAE regulator and bourses with respect to the delivery versus payment model. “The majority of market participants have expressed no major concerns over the safekeeping of investors’ assets and are starting to move away from the dual account structure,” MSCI said. For Qatar, the index provider said it welcomed the progress made by the authorities to raise the limits on foreign ownership of companies listed on the Doha-based exchange, but added that the current foreign ownership limits were still low by emerging market standards and the Qatari authorities should actively continue to increase them above 25 per cent in order to mitigate potential issues arising from increasing foreign capital inflows, MSCI said. “The MSCI decision to upgrade Qatar and UAE from frontier markets to emerging markets, with effect May 2014, reflects a growing realisation of how far these economies and their financial markets have developed in recent years,” said Sam Vecht, BlackRock’s head of the emerging markets specialist team and portfolio manager of the Frontiers Investment Trust. Equity index provider also said it is closely monitoring the situation in Egypt and in particular the country’s foreign exchange market. “MSCI may be forced to launch a public consultation on a potential exclusion of Egypt from the emerging markets index if the situation to worsen in the coming months.” MSCI further said it would reclassify Morocco and Greece as frontier market and emerging markets, respectively, in a move to lower their markets status. However, it maintained the emerging market status of Korea and Taiwan and will review their potential reclassification to developed markets as part of the 2014 annual market classification review. MSCI also initiating the review of China A-shares for potential inclusion in the MSCI Emerging Market Index. – muzaffarrizvi@khaleejjtimes.com Continue reading
