The bust in Dubai and exogenous shocks
by ilene - November 27th, 2009 8:02 pm
The bust in Dubai and exogenous shocks
Courtesy of Edward Harrison at Credit Writedowns
By now you have heard that Dubai World, the investment company, has asked its creditors for a six-month delay in repaying its debt (see articles in links). This is what is commonly referred to as default. Now many are wondering if Dubai the country is on the verge of default and asking who is most exposed. Markets are selling off in a major way. While this situation has been building for sometime, the announcement was an unexpected shock – an exogenous event – which has some talking about Creditanstalt and 1931.
Dubai is not an oil-rich country. It certainly has the greatest population amongst the United Arab Emirates, but oil and natural gas provide only 6% of income to the country. The country’s oil is expected to be depleted in as little as 20 years. Dubai is now much more dependent on its services like sporting events, trade and entrepôt services, and financial services and especially on property. So, when the Dubai property bubble went spectacularly bust in the credit crisis, Abu Dhabi, a UAE emirate with considerably more oil revenue, stepped into the breech in February.
Now, mind you Abu Dhabi’s sovereign wealth fund was rumoured to have lost a 12-figure sum in the financial meltdown in part because sovereign wealth funds from the Mideast recklessly poured capital into the American and European banking sector. Still, its support for Dubai calmed investors.
Even before the Abu Dhabi bailout, I thought the Dubai property boom and bust was a marvel to watch. In January, I commented:
I am fascinated by Dubai. They don’t have oil and they massively overbuilt. I would very much like to keep tabs on this economy because its position in the Middle East makes it a symbol for much of the interconnected financial bubble-like world we have just exited.
I think of the events in Dubai as having a bit of the butterfly effect to it – with everything…