Consumers: Divergent fortunes leave Dubai at the centre of attention - FT.com

If the entire Middle East was slammed by the global financial crisis, its revolutions of 2011 are, perhaps ironically, creating deeper divides between the region’s haves and have-nots – at least in spending power.

States beset by revolutionary fervour are witnessing reduced consumption as their economies falter amid uncertainty – even if, in the longer term, political change could bring deeper, more exciting markets for global retailers.

The divergent fortunes are most apparent in the Middle East and north Africa’s two largest consumer markets, Egypt and Saudi Arabia.

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