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Worst of Financial Crisis 
is Over: UAE Economists

The three took part in a panel discussion at MegaTrends, a conference organised in the city on Monday.

Dr. Giyas Gokkent, Chief Economist of the National Bank of Abu Dhabi, said that with oil prices hit at their peak last year by the worsening financial crisis, the nation’s gross national product, or GNP, would decline to $200 billion this year from $250 billion last year.

Marios Marathefitis, Chief Economist at Standard Chartered Bank, said that even though 70 per cent of the projects taken up last year were in the real estate sector, the correction in real estate prices could be blessing in disguise for the economy. It would help make funds available to other productive sectors, leading to greater economic diversification and productivity, he said.

Commenting on joblessness in the UAE, he expected a flat growth in population in 2009.

Mohammed Jaber, Lead Economist for JP Morgan, was of the view that jobless people may not create problems for the economy because many of them are labourers with insignificant 
spending power.

Earlier, Shaikh Sultan bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan, Chairman of the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority, or ADTA, said in his welcome address that the Abu Dhabi Government has identified tourism as key driver of economic diversification. “We aim to deliver around 2.3 million hotel guests to this emirate by 2012 and to sustain last year’s performance when we received 1.5 million hotel guests.

“ADTA acts as lead arranger to seed innovative and viable business events aligned to the Abu Dhabi Government’s 2030 Economic Vision. It can lead-arrange resources which are financial, or otherwise, across 12 sectors including energy, aviation, healthcare and education,” Shaikh Sultan added.

Philip Ward, Chief Executive Officer of Abu Dhabi Finance, said that the strategic plan for the emirate — Abu Dhabi Plan 2030 — which outlines residential property developed in tandem with the diversification of the economy and the development of new industries, provides confidence in levels of supply
and demand.

He said that developers in the capital can be confident that their developments will meet real demand, and investors can feel confident that their property investment over the long term will hold its value.

“Since our launch last year, we have seen great levels of interest in mortgages within Abu Dhabi, which is a clear sign that the demand already exists in the market. What the industry needs now is, quite simply, 
liquidity,” Ward said .

The Abu Dhabi Finance executive said that his company has provided affordable mortgages based on the individual’s requirements and circumstances since its launch in November.


haseebhaider@khaleejtimes.com