Islamic economy helps Arab funds

An initiative by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, to turn the emirate into a global Islamic economy capital would help protect Arab funds as it will provide better investment mechanism, a top Arab banker has said.

“This initiative will provide protection to Gulf and Arab money as it will create suitable frameworks for investment of excess liquidity in the region,” said Adnan Yousuf, chairman of the Beirut-based Union of Arab Banks (UAB). 

“The initiative by His Highness Sheikh Mohammed will also lead to a large increase in investment in development projects…this of course will benefit the entire (Gulf ) region,” he told local Arab newspapers in Dubai on Monday.

He said Dubai already has all the necessary legal and financial infrastructures for such massive investments but added that Sheikh Mohammed’s initiative “creates numerous investment opportunities and improves the investment atmosphere.”

Yousuf, a Bahraini, said he expected the banking crisis in Cyprus and other EU countries would push Arabs and other investors to transfer at least $25 billion of their deposits to the UAE, described by analysts as a safe investment haven in a region battered by unrest and political turbulence.

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