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Independent analysis on the UAE economy, sovereign capital, AI infrastructure, energy transition and the businesses shaping the next cycle.
FeaturedInvestment
Apollo and a group of strategic investors are committing $5 billion to Mubadala Capital's investment strategies, taking a minority stake in the Abu Dhabi firm while leaving majority ownership with Mubadala Investment Company. The structure says as much as the number does.
Markets
With Israeli voters heading to the polls, investors are weighing security risks, fiscal policy and the possibility of economic reform. A new party led by former general Ofer Winter has entered the debate with a market-oriented platform.
Partnerships
Dubai Chambers signed two memorandums of understanding with Chinese business associations in Shenzhen, opening fresh channels between Dubai's private sector and companies across the Greater Bay Area. The agreements are narrow on paper but point to a wider strategy.
Partnerships
OBS Global marked its grand launch in Dubai with representatives of 103 nationalities taking part in a single, simultaneous ribbon cutting, a staged image meant to capture the platform's pitch in one gesture: many nations, one shared beginning.
Economy
The IMF's latest World Economic Outlook has the world economy accelerating to 3.1 percent growth in 2026, but it has cut its Middle East and Central Asia forecast into outright contraction. The gap between those two numbers is the real story.
Markets
Speaking in Singapore ahead of the IMF and World Bank's annual meetings, Kristalina Georgieva told governments plainly that growth alone will not fix their balance sheets anymore. Global public debt is closing in on 100 percent of GDP, bond yields are at multi-decade highs, and the IMF's message has shifted from warning to deadline.
Economic strategy
A regional war that sent oil above 100 dollars a barrel would once have been enough to knock the Saudi economy off course entirely. This time, reserves held near 490 billion dollars, non-oil activity kept expanding, and the IMF signed off on the result. The resilience did not happen by accident.
Real Estate
UBS ranks Dubai fourth out of 23 cities on its Global Real Estate Bubble Index this year, just below the high risk band occupied by Zurich and Tokyo. The same report also says a skilled worker needs only five years of income to buy an apartment near the centre, a third of what it takes in Hong Kong. Both numbers are describing the same market.
Partnerships
The EU's Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism flew to Dubai this week, sat down with the UAE's economy minister and both national carriers, and delivered a message that went well beyond the usual diplomatic language. With the EU already supplying a fifth of Dubai's visitors, the timing of the visit was not incidental.
Economy
Dubai pulled in roughly 7 million visitors between January and August, a period that covered seven months of a regional war. August alone came in at 63 percent of last year's pace, and the industry is now betting on winter, Emirates and a packed events calendar to close the gap.
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