Gulf Financial News (Opens ePaper)

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"The trouble with economic cycles is that you can never really know at which point on it you are. It is very easy to mistake the green shoots of recovery for the gangrenous tinge of necrosis. As the credit crunch catalyses the capital market developments in the Gulf, it is also uncovering the true balance of power in the region.

The changing fortunes of Dubai and the subject of this month’s market focus, Abu Dhabi, in particular, is neatly illustrated by the traffic on the 10-lane highway between the two emirates. The north-bound lanes were once chock-ablock with the cars of those who could not afford the astronomical property prices near where they worked in UAE’s boom town and had therefore set up home in the country’s capital. Now the traffic is getting heavier in the other direction, with those who prefer to live among the bright lights of Dubai but to work where the action is hotting up: in Abu Dhabi."