Dubai was the symbol of an investment boom in the Arabian peninsula. And the Al Gosaibi and Saad group crises have, for many investors, signalled this boom’s final chapters.
After the 2001 terrorist attacks in the US, petrodollars were invested closer to home because of a fear of asset freezes and hostility toward Arab investment. As Gulf markets were opened up to regional and global capital, asset values mushroomed along with the oil price.
Since the property crash in Dubai – as well as the crises in the Kuwaiti and Bahraini financial sectors – there has been reconsideration, as elsewhere, of development that is focused on the...
