Abu Dhabi’s sharia-compliant finance sector, traditionally led by its Islamic banking industry, has expanded to include an increasing array of activities in areas such as insurance offerings and asset management. An environment of low oil prices has put pressure on margins in 2016 but, with nearly a quarter of assets in the UAE held by sharia-compliant institutions, the industry is firmly...
UAE: Abu Dhabi
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Chapter | Islamic Financial Services from The Report: Abu Dhabi 2017
Chapter | Capital Markets from The Report: Abu Dhabi 2017
Despite the headwinds of low oil prices and recent regional political turbulence, Abu Dhabi’s stock exchange put in a relatively strong performance in 2016, with the main index posting a 5% gain for the year. A sizeable sovereign bond sale also injected life into the emirate’s nascent debt market, reviving a yield curve that had been interrupted by a seven-year absence of sovereign issuances....
Despite undergoing a profitability squeeze in 2016, Abu Dhabi’s banking sector nonetheless demonstrated its ability to expand its asset base during a period of difficult economic conditions. A recovery in deposit growth means that liquidity concerns have abated, while the stabilisation of oil prices and continued expansion of the non-oil economy brought cheer at the outset of 2017. The sector...
Economies around the Gulf region have faced a challenging economic environment since the second half of 2014, but a more optimistic outlook for international oil prices in 2017 has offered some welcome relief. The process of fiscal reform that the oil price decline precipitated is, however, set to continue. The restructuring of Abu Dhabi’s public finances has taken into account the federal...
With substantial financial buffers and hydrocarbons reserves that are among the world’s largest, Abu Dhabi has increased its political and economic influence in recent years, both regionally and globally. From renewable energy to health care and aviation, a rapidly diversifying economy means that the emirate is well placed to weather the prolonged period of reduced oil prices that continues to...
While reduced oil prices are undoubtedly a concern for the emirate’s authorities, economic diversification efforts of recent years mean Abu Dhabi is well placed to weather a prolonged period of subdued prices. Vision 2030 meanwhile contains a raft of goals that will further reduce the emirate’s reliance on hydrocarbons, and continue to foster the emergence of a more sustainable and knowledge-based economy in the years ahead.