Expatriates are back to fretting about their jobs and the fate of property prices; locals are venting their anger at top officials who overborrowed to build increasingly outlandish projects. All residents are stunned at how a famed model of brash, extravagant growth has been transformed from a beacon of hope for an entire region into a case study in crisis management.
Welcome to Dubai. The skyscraper-studded Gulf city is a changed and chastened place since last week, when neither its own government nor that of Abu Dhabi, its oil-rich partner in the United Arab Emirates, showed willingness to stand behind the $59bn (£36bn, €39bn) in debts amassed by Dubai World, a flagship investment company that many investors had assumed enjoyed state backing.
In coffee shops and in the majlis meeting rooms of Dubai’s villas, locals are venting their ire at the ruler’s top lieutenants who, while building a modern city, also weighed it down with a debt burden estimated on Tuesday by Moody’s at $100bn.
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