UAE faces down financial Godzilla

Three giant bridges to service the world's largest man-made island“…Dubai's master developer, Nakheel, has revealed that Deira Island Front at the base of Palm Deira will have three 12-lane bridges that will connect the island to mainland Deira. Nakheel also announced today that the construction and infrastructure works for Palm Deira are on schedule. A dedicated state-of-the-art sales centre set for the project will be completed in December and will have a grand opening at the beginning of 2009…”

Oil price slump 'unlikely to hurt UAE economic growth' “…Falling oil prices are unlikely to impact the UAE’s economic growth, the chief economist of Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) said on Thursday, as oil traded at its lowest level in more than 15 months… Brent crude oil traded near $68.5 a barrel at 16:05 UAE time, down 3.3 percent from Wednesday, as traders continued to worry that a global recession could limit demand…”

Gulf states urged to act collectively “…Analysts say the guarantee was primarily a proactive move to reassure investors and dampen concerns about banking liquidity. While experts say most Gulf banks are well capitalised, some argue that collective action would boost confidence in the region, internally and externally, while also showing unity among governments that have plans to form a monetary union…”

UAE pumps $19 billion more emergency funds into banks “…The United Arab Emirates more than doubled its emergency bank funding plan to 120 billion dirhams ($32.67 billion) on Tuesday as Gulf Arab states stepped up moves to combat the global financial crisis… But the Gulf Arab state left bankers guessing about how it would employ the 70 billion dirhams ($19 billion) of new cash -- the biggest Gulf cash intervention to date -- after the UAE central bank opened a 50 billion dirham emergency lending facility last month…”

UAE faces down financial Godzilla “…US economist Nouriel Roubini, whose bearish predictions on the US economy have turned out to be eerily prophetic, is now predicting a global recession, with losses to financial institutions exceeding US$3 trillion (Dh11.02 trillion). So far, we’re only up to $637 billion in reported losses, which may provide some inkling of how much pain we’re still in for… Because of this, the western financial system is now being partially nationalised. The terms vary, but essentially Europe, the UK and the US are using taxpayers’ money to buy up huge chunks of their respective banking systems to keep them alive. For taxpayers, the upside is that pay cheques will continue to arrive and the corner ATM will continue to spit out cash...”