Dubai: No longer world's fastest rising economy?

It has been announced that Dubai no longer tops the list of the fastest rising financial centres in the world.

The latest independent Global Financial Centres Index (GFCI) shows that Dubai is likely to be surpassed by Shanghai, Beijing and Shenzhen as the most significant centres for financial activity on the world stage. In more bad news for the emirate, it also fell to fifth in the list of financial centres where international companies saw future offices being opened, behind four Asian-based centres.

London and New York dominated overall, with recent surges from Hong Kong and Singapore meaning they joined the two western economic powers in the top four.

The fact that Dubai was named in the top five centres perceived to have been most affected by the global economic crisis provides good reason as to why the emirate is being so aggressively challenged by other centres. Whereas New York and London were reported to have been hit the hardest, their mature financial institutions and traditional systems enabled them to remain strong on the world stage.

The report, which is based on a wide survey of leading global financial players, suggested the rise of Asia was part of a more general return of confidence among respondents.

Published in March this year, GFCI 5 showed that each of the 62 global financial centres experienced an overall ratings slump as a result of the financial downturn. Now though, six months later, the overall ratings have returned to the levels exhibited in last September's GFCI 4.

"This independent research demonstrates three trends: cautious optimism that the global financial services industry is showing signs of recovery, further movement of the financial business centre of gravity towards fast-developing markets - especially in Asia; and the emergence of a 'Premier League' of economically and socially interconnected cities, " said a spokesperson for the City of London Corporation.

Dubai, ranked 22nd in the September 2008 index, is now ranked 21st and is still the best ranked in the Middle East. Qatar comes 43rd in the list, with Bahrain 44th and Riyadh 68th out of a total of 75 financial centres assessed.

Like this article? Get the RSS feed: