Lending reaches 75 per cent of limit

Dubai: Emirates NBD PJSC, the UAE's biggest bank, has utilised about 75 per cent of the limit it can lend to the country's real-estate industry, a spokesman for the lender said.

"Our exposure to the real-estate market stands at a healthy 15.6 per cent of deposits, while the regulatory limit is 20 per cent," Ebrahim Suweidan, head of the bank's group external communications, said in an e-mail statement yesterday.

UAE stock markets have plunged this year as oil prices declined and on fears that the credit crisis will make it more difficult for the Gulf state's companies to borrow money.

The country's central bank set up a Dh70 billion ($19 billion) fund for banks to ease liquidity constraints caused by the seizure of global credit markets.

Dubai's plans, including the Disney-like Dubailand that will be three times the size of Manhattan, are expected to double the number of tourists visiting the city annually to 15 million visitors by 2015.

Tower

The emirate is racing against Saudi billionaire Prince Alwaleed bin Talal's investment company to build the world's first kilometre-tall tower.

Emirates NBD's chief investment officer Michael Preiss yesterday said the bank had reached the threshold it can provide to property companies.

The bank's shares plunged 21 per cent this week to Dh4.43 yesterday.