After four days of decline in October, Gulf central banks stepped in to save the local bourses after another day of sharp falls which have seen shares in the UAE alone lose Dhs141bn. Central Bank of the UAE announced that H.E. Sultan Bin Nasser Al Suwaidi travelled to Washington DC and attended the IMF/WB Annual Meetings.
This year a large amount of time was dedicated to discuss the liquidity crisis and the financial markets turmoil especially in the advanced industrial countries, the discussion included analysis of reasons which led to these crises and solutions or what is called policy response, i.e. changes in monetary policies and markets.
About the situation in the UAE, the Governor mentioned that national banks and foreign banks enjoy a strong financial position, as the ownership of deposits are distributed as follows:
- Nationals 75%
- Arab 8%
- Other nationalities 17%
and the ownership of nationals and Arab of deposits at national banks is higher. Also banks financing from the European Commercial Paper issues (ECP) and Medium-Term Notes (MTN) to the total bank assets is 9.9% only. HE Dr. Omar Bin Sulaiman, Governor of the Dubai International Financial Centre (DIFC) and Vice Chairman of the UAE Central Bank said: “The statement of His Highness Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE and Ruler of Abu Dhabi reflects the commitment of the country’s leadership to protect the national economy. The measures announced following the cabinet meeting chaired by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai today, will be viewed by history as a series of significant decisions aimed at ensuring the continued stability, sustainability and growth of the UAE economy. These brave measures indicate the UAE leadership’s deep confidence in the strong fundamentals of the country’s banking and financial system and the whole economy.”
