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Construction in Dubai was a major factor in the expansive economic growth seen in the early 2000s. However, the sector has witnessed a slowdown in recent years as lower oil prices depressed consumer demand. This was particularly the case for real estate, which slowed building activity. The investment prospects associated with Expo 2020 and a raft of regulatory reforms aimed at attracting foreign investors have helped to stabilise the real estate market, and many industry players are optimistic that the period of lower growth levels is coming to an end. The authorities are confident that Expo 2020 will not only stimulate real estate activity, but also the wider economy.

Despite slowing global economic growth and geopolitical tensions placing renewed pressure on international shipping, Dubai’s maritime sector has continued to strengthen. In 2019 the emirate moved up in the ranking of the world’s top-10 maritime capitals, securing the ninth spot, compared to its position of 10th in 2017. Today, the emirate is the leading maritime centre in the Middle East, India and Africa. Its rapid rise from a quiet fishing port in the 1970s to a regional and global shipping centre handling $354bn in non-oil trade comes down to careful planning, government investment and an attractive regulatory framework that is straightforward for logistics firms. This chapter contains an interview with Sultan Ahmed bin Sulayem, Group Chairman and CEO, DP World; Chairman, Dubai Maritime City Authority; and Chairman, Virgin Hyperloop One.

While Dubai’s reputation as an important maritime trade and air transport centre is already well established, the emirate is also rapidly emerging as a leader in transport and logistics innovation. Dubai’s transport and logistics sector experienced strong growth in 2019, continuing to underpin the emirate’s wider economy. Much of the current investment activity in the sector is being injected into transport infrastructure projects for Dubai Expo 2020, which is expected to attract over 25m visitors. However, the local government is also considering the long term, and there is a strong pipeline of transport infrastructure projects planned under the Traffic and Transportation Plan 2030, the emirate’s overarching long-term transport development programme, to expand roads, airport capacity and public transport routes.

The UAE’s insurance market is the largest in the GCC, and Dubai-based institutions, whether catering to the domestic sphere or serving the region from the emirate’s renowned financial free zone, play a central role in it. Dubai has a growing and multi-tiered insurance sector, with a conventional market as well as an offshore segment that features specialists and reinsurers that cover other markets in the region. A challenging economic environment sparked by low oil prices and an ongoing process of regulatory reform have slowed premium growth over the past year, but an increasingly efficient sector has succeeded in maintaining aggregate profitability levels. Both regulatory reform and market volatility remain factors that will significantly affect growth prospects in 2020.

The status of Dubai as a global financial centre means that it plays a central role in the domestic Islamic financial services sector. Thanks in large part to an ambitious government strategy, the sharia-compliant financial industry has emerged as a globally significant player. The combined assets of the world’s Islamic finance market have surpassed $2trn, and the UAE is home to around $222bn of that total. This establishes the country as the fourth-largest Islamic finance arena in the world, behind Iran, Saudi Arabia and Malaysia. The government has intensified efforts to develop the segment in recent years, aiming to establish Dubai as the epicentre of the Islamic economy.

Dubai’s status as a financial centre rests to a large extent on its advanced capital markets. The city’s various trading floors have played a regionally important role as pioneers of new instruments and market processes, and succeeded in attracting investment from both home and abroad. Competition for scarce liquidity in the Gulf has, however, increased significantly over recent years. With other exchanges in the region overhauling their regulatory frameworks in order to harness investment flows, Dubai’s regulators and exchange authorities are working hard to maintain its position as a key financial centre. This chapter contains an interview with Hamed Ali, CEO, Nasdaq Dubai.