About the Dubai debt crisis
Saturday, 19 December 2009
There are two sharply divergent views on the Dubai debt crisis. One, put out largely by western pundits and reflected in the international media, is signified by evocative phrases like 'boom to bust,' 'this desert-dream-turned-nightmare,' and a potential 'major sovereign default problem.' The other is the less alarmist view that we are incline to consider. Let's look at the basic facts. The unexpected announcement by the government-owned company Dubai World that it needed until May 2010 to clear its debt of $59 billion, instead of paying it on schedule, threw global financial markets into a dizzying spin.
It was indeed shocking to read about the latest financial storm that is brewing in the Middle East. Just when we thought that the worst of the recession was almost over, comes this shocker as the Dubai crisis. Dubai has demonstrated a level of maturity and business acumen hitherto unseen in the Middle East and has been a role model for a few developed western countries as well. Let us hope that it tackles the present crisis in a mature fashion. The disclosure of liability of over $59 billion by the Dubai World has sent shock waves in the financial markets across the world, reflecting the fear over its possible negative impact on the recovery process of the global economic slowdown.
An unprecedented construction boom witnessed in Dubai in recent times had attracted thousands of Bangladeshi workers whose fate now hangs in the balance owing to the worrying developments in the Dubai World. It is time the government of Bangladesh took measures to insulate its economy from the impact. The Dubai World badly needs a bailout package from its neighbouring Emirates.
Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputation and social standing, never can cause a reform. Those who are really in earnest must be willing to be anything or nothing in the world's estimation, and publicly and privately, in season and out, avow their sympathy with despised and persecuted ideas and their advocates, and bear the consequences.
Gopal Sengupta
Canada, _gopalsengupta@aol.com_
It was indeed shocking to read about the latest financial storm that is brewing in the Middle East. Just when we thought that the worst of the recession was almost over, comes this shocker as the Dubai crisis. Dubai has demonstrated a level of maturity and business acumen hitherto unseen in the Middle East and has been a role model for a few developed western countries as well. Let us hope that it tackles the present crisis in a mature fashion. The disclosure of liability of over $59 billion by the Dubai World has sent shock waves in the financial markets across the world, reflecting the fear over its possible negative impact on the recovery process of the global economic slowdown.
An unprecedented construction boom witnessed in Dubai in recent times had attracted thousands of Bangladeshi workers whose fate now hangs in the balance owing to the worrying developments in the Dubai World. It is time the government of Bangladesh took measures to insulate its economy from the impact. The Dubai World badly needs a bailout package from its neighbouring Emirates.
Cautious, careful people, always casting about to preserve their reputation and social standing, never can cause a reform. Those who are really in earnest must be willing to be anything or nothing in the world's estimation, and publicly and privately, in season and out, avow their sympathy with despised and persecuted ideas and their advocates, and bear the consequences.
Gopal Sengupta
Canada, _gopalsengupta@aol.com_