is Dubai sinking!

[merlin the learned]

A colleague recently attending a conference on international monetary investments overheard an international expert with 25 years Middle East experience including 9 years in Dubai reply when asked about Dubai’s future, “Titanic with Arab attitudes at the helm”

[mrbig]

Originally Posted by merlin the learned

A colleague recently attending a conference on international monetary investments overheard an international expert with 25 years Middle East experience including 9 years in Dubai reply when asked about Dubai’s future, “Titanic with Arab attitudes at the helm”

No, but this post is!

Sounds to me like you're another xpat that couldnt hack it in Dubai so you resort to slander.

[merlin the learned]

Originally Posted by mrbig

No, but this post is!

Sounds to me like you're another xpat that couldnt hack it in Dubai so you resort to slander.

Dont shoot the messanger or did it touch a nerve!!

My Dubai association has and is still financially sucessful, even with the downturn obviously not the same for some others.

Interesting that you use the term slander...dos'ent apply if the contention is factual

[mrbig]

Its ok merlin, we all understand you are bitter.. no worries.
better luck in the future.

[Glasceb]

Dubai is still struggling and it'll take a very long time and some serious cash to get the confidence back. My company are having to make more redundancies and salary cuts because we are owed major money from government linked developers who despite getting some of the $10 billion bond in May are still not honouring their debts.

[titirangi]

Originally Posted by Glasceb

Dubai is still struggling and it'll take a very long time and some serious cash to get the confidence back. My company are having to make more redundancies and salary cuts because we are owed major money from government linked developers who despite getting some of the $10 billion bond in May are still not honouring their debts.

Plenty of examples of SMB being squeezed by govt related clients (aren't they all?).

Had a farewell lunch with one just 2 weeks back, consulting biz, 10 weeks without payment whilst still on the job, packed up and gone home. Projects are pretty much stuffed without them which Will cost many times more to remedy but the clients just don't have timely access to cash right now.

It will likely get better with time, just stinks right now.

[flossie]

Mr. Big, why so angry?

Judging by the amount of families I know who are either still here, hanging in the hope of finding work, or are on their way home, Dubai isn't getting any better. And these are recent lay offs, not the ones that happened before the end of the last school year. I'd say it has a long way to go.

Luckily for us, we don't have to rely on the Governments abilities to pay their bills to stay here, so I guess there will still be quite a few like us who will remain and take advantage of the cheaper rents, quieter roads.

[dizzyizzy]

the thing is that, like with anything, we only hear about the bad news, I still have my job, but I am not going to come here and do a post and say it, am I... ?? From my group of friends, which is around 40 people, only two lost their jobs. One packed and went back home, the other one stayed and found a new job. This was back in December. Nobody else that I know of has lost their job since then. My company has not laid off one single employee. So is not that bad. There is a massive downturn of course, but it's the same almost everywhere. But Dubai going to the sink? I don't think so. They will definitely have to rectify and start being more realistic and grounded on their planning and expectations. But this is not turning into a ghost town. Rents and property are going down to more realistic prices now, so that's good. Schools still have long waiting lists. My company is still doing business. The company next to us closed. My point, if people chose to focus their attention on the bad, they are going to find lots of that. If they chose to focus their attention on the good, they are going to find lots of that too. I rather focus on the positive

[dizzyizzy]

In fact I have met MORE people who moved here because they got jobs, than the ones who are leaving because they lost theirs.

[titirangi]

Originally Posted by dizzyizzy

the thing is that, like with anything, we only hear about the bad news, I still have my job, but I am not going to come here and do a post and say it, am I... ?? From my group of friends, which is around 40 people, only two lost their jobs. One packed and went back home, the other one stayed and found a new job. This was back in December. Nobody else that I know of has lost their job since then. My company has not laid off one single employee. So is not that bad. There is a massive downturn of course, but it's the same almost everywhere. But Dubai going to the sink? I don't think so. They will definitely have to rectify and start being more realistic and grounded on their planning and expectations. But this is not turning into a ghost town. Rents and property are going down to more realistic prices now, so that's good. Schools still have long waiting lists. My company is still doing business. The company next to us closed. My point, if people chose to focus their attention on the bad, they are going to find lots of that. If they chose to focus their attention on the good, they are going to find lots of that too. I rather focus on the positive

@dizzy, you are right to focus on the positive in life, surround yourself with positive energy and all that. At the same time it is prudent to keep your "eyes wide open".

This post started out with a loose anecdote, interesting in that it was from a seemingly experienced financial analyst and touched on how cultural impacts etc, might be amplified by the significant changes to macro-economic environment.

Stuff like wasta, transparency and arab negotiation "skill" which has been "proven" tremendously successful during a rising tide, might be tested to the extreme now the tide has gone out.

Again, it is what it is and good to stay positive. Just not smart to close your mind to what is going on all around you, especially when virtually nothing is reported in the media and you have to go to a web forum to get the skinny.