Thursday, 30 April 2015

The Oil Slump is Emptying the Stores and Streets of Dubai - Bloomberg Business

The Oil Slump is Emptying the Stores and Streets of Dubai - Bloomberg Business:



"The historic Dubai marketplace that calls itself the City of Gold is glittering less these days.



Under streets and alleys covered by roofs to protect window shoppers from the intense desert sun, more than 300 stores peddle everything from ingots to Bedouin jewelry. The Dubai Gold Souk had become one of the largest such marketplaces, offering tax-free precious metal, as Persian Gulf oil wealth ballooned in the past few decades.



Now, with the plunge in crude throttling economies across the Middle East, gold buyers are harder to find. Demand for the metal is slowing in the region and Dubai has seen a drop-off in some visitors. Shopkeepers say sales are declining because tourists from Saudi Arabia and Russia have less cash to spend. Sellers offer discounts for gold that two years ago fetched a premium."



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