Three cheers for Dubai

Earlier this year, a friend of mine who runs a small PR company in Dubai moved with his team into a new office in Dubai Media City. And the situation he encountered had been unthinkable just a month or two earlier. Everywhere people were packing up, vacating offices, tearing down company signs. Apparently, my friend had the choice of at least a dozen or so offices to choose from.

In recent weeks, the media have been full of articles and reports on the impact of the global economic crisis on the Gulf countries, and particularly Dubai. Just last week a piece in the New York Times spoke of thousands of foreigners leaving the emirate every day, dumping their cars at the airport. While this may have been exaggerated, it is true that the "Dubai miracle", where nothing could go wrong, has ended. The state had to disclose that it is $70bn in debt – about 100% of its GDP; almost half of real estate developments are now either "indefinitely postponed" or outright cancelled; and there is an exodus of professionals and workers.

Will Dubai collapse? Of course not. And for three very good reasons: