Attraction of fixed income market grows

Gulf investors have often been accused of relying on a duopoly of asset classes, alternating between real estate and equities depending on how the mood takes them.

But with both investment avenues looking distinctly shaky, bankers and analysts are saying cannier investors should consider an asset class that may be the first to flicker back to life in 2009 – fixed income.

Debt may have unsavoury connotations in a Muslim region, and, thanks to high hydrocarbon revenues in recent years, local governments and companies have often had little reason to borrow.