Abu Dhabi safe from banking and realty downturn
Abu Dhabi safe from banking and realty downturn
Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi has thus far remained immune to the global financial crisis and despite projections of slower economic growth next year, all previously announced projects are on track and virtually no downsizing of staff has been reported across the banking and real estate sectors, senior business and banking officials told Gulf News on Monday.
Earlier this month, UAE Central Bank Governor Sultan Bin Nasser Al Suwaidi forecast that the country's gross domestic product (GDP) would fall to the low-single-digit level in 2009 due to the global financial crisis. He said the national economy is poised to slow down in 2009 and 2010.
However, industry executives say they are not panicking and it is business as usual for them.
An executive at the National Bank of Abu Dhabi said there have been no job cuts due to the global economic downturn and none is planned. As well, he added that there's no freeze on hiring.
Another executive of Emirates NBD Group, the largest bank in the Middle East, said that there haven't been any layoffs by the bank and none are in the offing.
Bankers at Abu Dhabi Commercial Bank, Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank and Union National Bank also deny their banks have plans to lay off staff in the near term.
Executives at Abu Dhabi-based Aldar Properties and Sorouh Real Estate, two of the top real estate master developers say their projects remain on track.
In Abu Dhabi, Aldar's development of real estate projects across its portfolio is estimated to have exceeded $72 billion in terms of value. On the other hand, Sorouh is executing projects worth about Dh70 billion across Abu Dhabi.
Globally, while the trend is to layoff employees to cut costs, some of the companies and banks in Abu Dhabi are actually looking to hire more staff.
"We expect to hire more people next year," Samer F. Abu Hijleh, chief operating officer of Sorouh, said.
Similarly, executives at NMC Group, an Abu Dhabi-based conglomerate and Abu Dhabi Islamic Bank say they are adding more people to their team to boost their operational efficiency and profitability.
Abu Dhabi-listed First Gulf Bank (FGB), the UAE's fourth largest lender by market value, yesterday declined to confirm a media report that said it had cut its workforce over the past few months to cut costs amid a global financial crisis.
