If people are wondering why Lebanese expats are now conspicuously absent from the Lebanese real estate market, which is causing its collapse to accelerate, here's some data:
Job cuts in Abu Dhabi are as follows:
-ADNOC: Over 5,000, up to 10,000
-ENOC: 1,000
-Etihad: 5,000
-ADIA: Over 1,000
-Etihad Rail: 1,000
-Abu Dhabi banks like NBAD, FGB, ADCB etc: Over 5,000 in the last 2 years. NBAD and FGB fired 2,000 this week.
-Emirates Airline has fired about 5,000
-Dubai banks have fired over 20,000 including DIFC in the last 2 years. At least half the banks have shut in Dubai/DIFC in the last 3 years like Lloyds, Barclays, RBS, ABN AMRO, Merrill Lynch, Soc Gen, Coutts etc. About 60 banks/companies shut in DIFC every year for the last 5 years. Total 360 plus companies have shut since 2006.
-Private players like Yahoo, Lukoil, Kraft Foods etc and more have fired over 100,000 and shut.
-Businessmen who have run away and the numbers are in excess of 3,000.
-At least 12 hotels have shut and every week 2 restaurants are shutting in UAE.
New taxes are being implemented on a monthly basis.....
Here is the flavor of today's FT article: https://www.ft.com/con…/2d7401f8-ec8f-11e6-930f-061b01e23655
Expats take flight as Abu Dhabi tightens purse strings
Austerity driven by low oil price prompts high-earning foreigners to quit the emirate
2 HOURS AGO by Simeon Kerr in Abu Dhabi
There are few bigger attractions for expatriates seeking a top-paying job in the oil-rich Gulf than the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the world’s largest sovereign wealth funds.
But as Abu Dhabi implements a string of cost-cutting measures even Adia’s staff are starting to feel the pinch. Along with other government employees in the United Arab Emirates’ capital, they now have to pay their own utility bills, which in some cases can exceed $20,000 a year, and cover more of their medical expenses.
“The purse strings are tightening,” says a senior investment banker in the emirate.
Abu Dhabi, the UAE’s top oil producer and the wealthiest of its seven emirates, has long epitomised the petrodollar wealth of the Gulf — Adia manages assets estimated at $800bn. But government austerity measures now illustrate how the region’s leaders are being forced to take radical action in response to prolonged low oil prices and implement politically sensitive policies that were once considered a taboo in societies where government largesse has been the norm.
Living costs have soared as civil servants’ packages have been trimmed and electricity tariffs driven up in reforms to government subsidy programs. At the same time, delays to multibillion-dollar projects and spending cuts have triggered widespread redundancies, not least in the oil and gas sector. Adnoc, the state oil company, has shed 5,000 jobs in the past 18 months,
The result is the flight of expatriates who had descended on Abu Dhabi during the oil boom of the 2000s as the emirate embarked on an ambitious program to transform itself into a luxurious business and tourism destination.
“2016 was a nightmare, the worst year in three decades,” said a headhunter who recruits for senior positions in the emirate. “The top and bottom end of expats are on their way out, leaving a squeezed middle, rather like in the 1980s and 1990s.”
The highest paid European general managers were leaving and being replaced by cheaper staff, he said.
Projects valued at $81bn have been put on hold while others worth $69bn are continuing, according to the Middle East Economic Digest, a business intelligence provider. Those delayed include some showpiece plans, including a Louvre museum on Saadiyat Island that was supposed to begin welcoming visitors in 2012. Contracts for the Zayed National Museum and Guggenheim, which are also integral to Abu Dhabi’s efforts to become a regional cultural hub, have yet to be tendered.
Monica Malik, chief economist at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, says: “The economy is very much driven by government, state-related entity spending, and the focus has been on fiscal consolidation and adjusting to the lower oil price environment.
“There has been a marked slowdown in economic activity, and the focus will probably remain on further adjustment albeit at a weaker pace in 2017.”
Fitch, the rating agency, says Abu Dhabi government spending shrank 10 per cent last year and 18 per cent in 2015, slowing non-oil GDP growth to 3.5 per cent last year from 7.6 per cent in 2015.
The government has also sought to raise revenues to bolster its coffers.
Electricity prices for expatriates rose 30 per cent this year, while Emiratis’ power and water tariffs, which are lower, were increased by 34 per cent. It was the third year running that such raises were imposed. A sales tax is due to be introduced in the UAE and other Gulf states for the first time in 2018.
Foreigners are also being hit by a new municipality tax of 3 per cent on annual rent, backdated to February 2016.
“You feel the impact from the slowdown and rising costs, with people leaving or sending their families home — there are empty houses in my compound for the first time in many, many years,” says an Abu Dhabi-based banker.
More job losses are expected as the government looks to rationalise its diverse range of affiliated companies. Bankers estimate there could be more than 2,000 job losses caused by the merger of National Bank of Abu Dhabi and First Gulf Bank, including a cull of expensive senior management and cuts across the national branch network.
Mubadala and Ipic, the Abu Dhabi state investment firms, are also being merged in another cost-saving measure.
Ripple effects are being felt across the emirate. Dentists complain that families are no longer opting for as many expensive procedures, such as brace fittings for children.
“They are already calling it the Adia effect,” the investment banker adds.
Situation is so grim that a company owned 50% by the Ruler of Dubai and 50% by the Ruler of Abu Dhabi shut a plant in UK and did not pay salaries or benefits to over 200 employees in UK and now the unions are pressuring for a hearing in the UK Parliament!
Gone are the days of excess when they used to spend tens of millions for the sake of reputation and no one used to care!
Counting pennies is the NEW NORMAL in the GCC!
Dubai Firm Leaves Britain Without Paying Staff
Businesses owned by the richest Arab billionaire who is richest in the world are also collapsing.
Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed’s Al Arab channel closes down
Media and newspapers are shutting regularly due to lack of business.
UAE newspaper 7Days closes down
EXCLUSIVE: UAE’s Radio 1 and Radio 2 close, entire workforce laid off – source
Thousands of people have run away leaving their cars behind.
Fines and dust build up on vehicles abandoned at Abu Dhabi airport
Iconic restaurants have shut.
Jumeirah to close two restaurants at Emirates Towers Boulevard - Harry Ghatto's and Tokyo @Towers
Jumeirah Restaurant Group to close The Ivy Dubai
Two iconic Dubai Souq Al Bahar restaurants closing down
Pacha Dubai to close for good?
Here is the latest list of cars that have been abandoned in Dubai but no one is allowed to publish it.
Most are sold at a price below 1,000 dirhams (because there are no buyers) and no one is allowed to write reports in any newspapers. These cars get deleted and updated on a daily basis. There are houses in Fronds of Palm Jumeirah, malls across UAE and many other interesting things.
Meanwhile, hotels are collapsing and offering entire buffets in 5 star hotels for less than a cup of coffee in those hotels!
This gradual collapse has continued since Jan 2015 and should create a peak collapse sometime in 2017 with no hopes for any upward recovery in 2018.
ٍSource: Real Estate in Lebanon
ٍSource: Real Estate in Lebanon
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