Dubai

The biennial Dubai Airshow ended on Thursday, fulfilling pessimistic analyst forecasts, as sales of only a bit more than 14 billion dollars dimmed against 155.5 billion dollars in 2007. "The declared on-site order book for Dubai Airshow 2009 is now over 14 billion dollars (9.3 billion euros)," the organisers' website said, with final figures expected to be released in the coming days. European aircraft manufacturer Airbus walked away with the highest share, with orders and letters of intent to buy planes worth 5.3 billion dollars. The Airbus orders were for 15 aircraft worth more than 3.6 billion dollars, in addition to memorandums of understanding ... Read Full Story

Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, chairman of Kingdom Holding Company, said banks that loaned money to Dubai World can’t claim to be victims of the emirate’s debt crisis because they should have understood the risks, according to an article published in Arab News. Dubai World, the state-controlled investment firm whose assets include a stake in Las Vegas company MGM Mirage, is seeking to reschedule payments on about $26 billion of debt. “These banks are very mature banks, and they have to differentiate between a corporate loan and a sovereign loan,” Alwaleed was quoted as saying by Arab News. “When things go sour, you can’t have ... Read Full Story

Asian banks have relatively small exposures to Dubai and companies, based on preliminary survey of the banks it rates in the region, said Moody's rating agency. Therefore, no rating actions have been taken on Asian banks as a result of the requested standstill on selected Dubai World debt payments. Nor does Moody's expect that there will be any need for negative rating actions on Asian banks at a later date, barring a massive expansion in the scope of restructurings in Dubai. The Asian banks have billions of US dollars of exposures to UAE entities, but this represents a small percent of bank assets. To ... Read Full Story

As uncertainties continue regarding the full impact on the Dubai World's requested standstill on debt payments, Standard & Poor's has lowered its long-term counterparty credit ratings on Emirates Bank International PJSC (EBI), National Bank of Dubai (NBD), and Mashreqbank to 'BBB' from 'A-' as a result of what ratings agency sees as reduced expectations for extraordinary government support. The short-term counterparty credit ratings were affirmed at 'A-2'. At the same time, it lowered its long- and short-term counterparty credit ratings on Dubai Islamic Bank to 'BBB-/A-3' from 'BBB+/A-2'. The long- and short-term ratings on these four banks remain on CreditWatch with negative implications. Emirates ... Read Full Story

A leading Arab publisher, editor-in-chief and columnist has slammed the western media for its 'senseless campaign' against Dubai and its economic difficulties. Writing in the English language Gulf Daily News, Anwar Abdulrahman, chairman of Bahrain-based Dar Akhbar Al Khaleej Press and Publishing House, said the 'vitriolic, misinformed attacks' launched over the last few days had unfairly tarnished Dubai's government. "They violate every basic ethic of level-headed thinking with many previously reputed pens staining their own names in a phenomenal drift of emotion without reason. Their senseless campaign against Dubai has unfortunately rendered them blind to reality," he said. Abdulrahman, who last month addressed members ... Read Full Story