UAE billionaire warns of capital flight

 United Arab Emirates (UAE) billionaire, Khalaf Ahmad Al-Habtoor, yesterday warned of “possible escape by the foreign investors” from the Gulf state.

“Our region is undergoing tough political and economic conditions, which have created fears around the future of the foreign investors in the UAE, especially in Dubai,” Al-Habtoor said on Twitter. UAE and Dubai

The Emirati businessmen called on the UAE government “to re-consider the current investment laws, regulations, practices in place,” adding that the state move would “positively impact the UAE’s economy.”

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Last week, the US global hotel data provider, STR, said that Dubai’s hotels’ occupancy had reached its lowest since 2009 during the second quarter of 2019. It added that the average daily rates and revenue available per room had fallen to “2003 levels.”

Bloomberg recently reported that the UAE’s government-owned luxury hotel chain, Jumeirah Group LLC, had laid off “hundreds of employees as the emirate grapples with regional geopolitical tensions, relatively low oil prices and an ongoing real estate and retail slump.”

Dubai’s hospitality industry is one of the emirate’s main economic pillars.  It is set to host the global EXPO2020 event next October.