Breakingviews - Dubai demonstrates the distance ahead of Saudi:
"The bustling metropolis of Dubai should not, by rights, exist. The most populous of the seven absolute monarchies that constitute the United Arab Emirates has only modest oil reserves. To generate electricity it relies on importing natural gas - especially from Qatar, with which it severed diplomatic ties in June. And it has virtually no natural fresh water. Yet Dubai and its population of 2.7 million people now boast GDP of around $40,000 a head, according to the government of Dubai’s Statistics Center.
The near 33 million people living in neighboring Saudi Arabia, by contrast, account for an average GDP of less than $22,000 a head, according to the International Monetary Fund. Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman wants to improve on that, judging by a goal unveiled at last week’s Davos-in-the-desert conference, entitled the Future Investment Initiative, to create a regional financial powerhouse – an event which drained Dubai of many of its business and financial elite for several days.
Saudi Arabia can learn much from Dubai, which the Banker magazine just last month anointed the world’s 10th-biggest financial center. That feat is now splashed across twin thin electronic message boards outside the Gate Building, the heart of Dubai’s financial markets. Around the corner Nasdaq is building its new regional headquarters. Riyadh doesn’t even make the publication’s ranking of 57 cities."
'via Blog this'
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