Swimming with sharks

There is research that gives you fresh insight, and there is research that confirms what you already know. A report this week from Zurich International Life which tells us expats in the Middle East are loathe to use financial advisors, is very much in the latter category.

While one in three expats say savings and investment is their number one priority, less than 10% turn to financial advisors for advice. Most prefer to take advice from family and friends, 38% work things out for themselves. Worryingly, just 2% of expat Arabs use financial advisors.

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Business lessons from comic books

A regular plot line in the comic book stories of Kipp's youth was the use of the 'congratulations, you're our one thousandth customer' device. The trick could be applied to pie shops, toy stores and football clubs, and the figure would change to suit the tale. The lucky customer would then be gifted a large cash sum/year's supply of pies, and be rescued from some terrible fate.

I say all this apropos of Air Arabia recently announcing it had carried it five millionth customer, a tidy figure given the airline has been running for only four years. The news was tucked away in a financial report, and while it would have made good reading for market analysts it seems to be a wasted marketing opportunity.

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Hit by inflation? Raise wages!

In 2005 public sector employees in Saudi Arabia were handed a blanket 15% increase in wages. The gift was not dependent on pay scale or performance; with the economy booming the Saudi government reckoned its huge number of civil servants, all Nationals, deserved a slice of the action.

Two years on and inflation in the Kingdom is running at a seven-year high. Rents in August were up a record 12.1%, with food product prices up 6.6%. Puzzled by this, the government has convened a special council to look at ways of tackling inflation. The panel has just recommended a pay rise for both private and public sector workers.

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Hare-brained 6-year cap on expats gathers pace

The Gulf states have possibly the highest reliance on foreign labor than any region on earth. It is estimated more than one third of the GCC population is made up of foreign workers. Every industry, from banking to media to construction to aviation is propped up by overseas talent.

The situation has led to much grumbling from GCC labor ministers. "In some areas of the Gulf, you can't tell whether you are in an Arab Muslim country or in an Asian district," Bahrain's Labor Minister Majeed Al Alawi told the media last month. He is now proposing a six-year limit on unskilled workers in the region, a proposal the UAE says it will support at next month's meeting of GCC labor ministers in Riyadh.

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Hare-brained 6-year cap on expats gathers pace

The Gulf states have possibly the highest reliance on foreign labor than any region on earth. It is estimated more than one third of the GCC population is made up of foreign workers. Every industry, from banking to media to construction to aviation is propped up by overseas talent.

The situation has led to much grumbling from GCC labor ministers. "In some areas of the Gulf, you can't tell whether you are in an Arab Muslim country or in an Asian district," Bahrain's Labor Minister Majeed Al Alawi told the media last month. He is now proposing a six-year limit on unskilled workers in the region, a proposal the UAE says it will support at next month's meeting of GCC labor ministers in Riyadh.

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Win-win as Emaar seals Bawadi land deal

Two months ago, having been forced to scrap a land-for-stock deal in Dubai, critics were suggesting the end of the Emaar gravy train. With Dubai property contributing 85% of the company's revenues, and new land increasingly hard (and expensive) to come by, there would be tough times ahead while Emaar waited for overseas projects to come good.

This morning, the picture looks a whole lot healthier. Emaar has agreed to invest just over $1bn in around 63 million sqft of land in the Bawadi, Dubailand, development. At a stroke the company will double its Dubai land portfolio and secures prime pitch in the one of the emirate's biggest projects. Among other things Bawadi is envisaged as the longest chain of luxury hotels in the world along a 10km stretch which will add 51 luxury hotels and more than 60,000 rooms to Dubai, plus the world's biggest shopping strip.

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Win-win as Emaar seals Bawadi land deal

Two months ago, having been forced to scrap a land-for-stock deal in Dubai, critics were suggesting the end of the Emaar gravy train. With Dubai property contributing 85% of the company's revenues, and new land increasingly hard (and expensive) to come by, there would be tough times ahead while Emaar waited for overseas projects to come good.

This morning, the picture looks a whole lot healthier. Emaar has agreed to invest just over $1bn in around 63 million sqft of land in the Bawadi, Dubailand, development. At a stroke the company will double its Dubai land portfolio and secures prime pitch in the one of the emirate's biggest projects. Among other things Bawadi is envisaged as the longest chain of luxury hotels in the world along a 10km stretch which will add 51 luxury hotels and more than 60,000 rooms to Dubai, plus the world's biggest shopping strip.

Read More...