Roundup: UAE gives full play to Dubai, Abu Dhabi in leading growth
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E-mail Xinhua, October 24, 2017
DUBAI. Oct. 23 (Xinhua) -- The emirates of Dubai and Abu Dhabi of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) witness intensified ties between public and private entities as the economy remains in a stutter mode.
Dubai, the trade and tourism hub of the UAE, and Abu Dhabi, the capital of the oil-rich Gulf state, have always been in a mode of a "healthy competition." said experts.
But recent activities point to a development which sees entities on both sides overcoming their rivalry to work closer together amid rough economic conditions.
Earlier in the day, Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange and Nasdaq Dubai said in an e-mailed statement they have signed "an agreement to develop and launch an Index Futures contract based on the Abu Dhabi General Index on Nasdaq Dubai's derivatives platform."
Hamed Ali, Chief Executive of Nasdaq Dubai, said "the introduction of index futures is a significant step in the evolution of the UAE capital markets."
This agreement marks a first since the foundation of the Nasdaq Dubai, the international securities exchange of the UAE, in 2005.
Nasdaq Dubai is as a licensed market of the Middle East's biggest financial free zone DIFC which has lifted the UAE, a major oil supplier, to the top 10 of global banking hubs, according to London magazine The Banker.
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) in July cut UAE economic growth forecast for 2017 to 1.3 percent from 1.5 percent it forecast in April based on slower growth in the non-oil sector.
Ninety percent of Emirati oil is located in Abu Dhabi where the UAE's second financial free zone ADGM signed in July this year has granted official regulatory recognition to the Dubai Gold and Commodities Exchange (DGCX), the commodity derivatives exchange of the UAE's biggest industrial free zone Dubai Multi Commodities Center (DMCC) which has attracted over 14,000 licensed firms under its roof.
Leading UAE economist Nasser Saidi, president of research and advisory firm Nasser Saidi & Associates has been lobbying the unification of financial platforms in the UAE in order to strengthen the Gulf state's non-oil economy.
"We should have a UAE financial center which unites all markets in Dubai and Abu Dhabi," he said.
Earlier in the month, Tim Clark, President of the UAE's international carrier Emirates Airline said the Dubai government-controlled airline was open to cooperate with local rival Etihad Airways, the Abu Dhabi-based national carrier of the UAE.
However, Clark added a full merger between the two was up to the owners, hence the ruling families of Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
Emirates recorded in the fiscal year 2016/2017 which ended on March 31 a 82 percent decline in its annual profit which reached 340 million dollars. Etihad lost in the full year 2016 1.87 billion dollars due to a stronger dollar. Enditem
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