After falling for three consecutive days this week, stocks on the Dubai Financial Market (DFM) were up Thursday 7 percent to 1,640.76 points on the announcement that Dubai would not default on its debt. Abdul Rahman al Saleh, the Director General of the Department of Finance in Dubai clarified the government’s plans to relieve the emirate’s current economic crisis.
Speaking at a press conference, Saleh said, “It is quite surprising that we are now seeing things like this said in the world's media about Dubai: Dubai default... Dubai debt meltdown... Dubai financial crisis… etc.
“It was inaccurate, it was unnecessary blind panic, it was a misunderstanding of the status of Dubai, which indeed is a centre of trade and economic activity, it was lack of knowledge of how much debt was the subject of the announcement and how it is related to the government debt. “The reactions were caused by asymmetric information of the situation in Dubai,” he added.
The DFM index was also driven upward on word that Emaar Properties, one of the world’s largest real estate companies, would not merge with Dubai Holding entities. The news pushed shares of Emaar Properties up 14.84 percent.
© 2009 Mena Report (www.menareport.com)
