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Abu Dhabi Investment House Launches $7B Porta Moda Fashion Concept
Abu Dhabi Investment House (ADIH) signed memorandum of understandings to develop Porta Moda cities in Abu Dhabi, Qatar, Morocco, Tunisia and India. Porta Moda cities will comprise of retail districts offering luxury brands in fashion, jewellery and interior design fields, in addition to residential and leisure areas. Emirates International Properties will develop Porta Moda Abu Dhabi and Gulf Finance House will establish relevant cities in Morocco and Tunisia. Qatar and India entertainment cities will develop their own Porta Moda districts. ADIH recently signed a $1.5B agreement with Dubai based Al Futtaim Group to develop 50% of Qatar entertainment city.
Morocco to Build High Speed Rail Link by 2013
The Moroccan state rail authority, Office National des Chemins de Fer (ONCF) has announced the building of a high-speed rail link between Tangiers and Casablanca. The new rail line that will open by 2013 will carry 8 million passengers a year. The project will cost $2.7B and reduce the journey time between the two cities from six hours to two. The project also includes the delivery of 18 high-speed train wagons. The new line is part of a wider plan to link all Moroccan major cities through a high-speed rail network. ONCF is also building a $755M 43km rail infrastructure to link Tangier with the new Tangier-Mediterranean port development.
Bahrain undergoes robust growth in 2008
According to the Economist, Bahrain is expected to have continuing GDP growth, mainly driven by higher oil prices accompanied with the regional economic boom. Furthermore, the economist forecasts that domestic demand is expected to rise with increasing public spending and employment especially as banking, aluminium output and tourism are expanding with the new construction projects. Despite this strong growth, the Economist forecasts that growth levels will go from 7% in 2008 to 5.1% in 2012, mainly due to the possible decline in oil prices and regional demand. Contrary to other regional countries, Bahrain’s GDP is largely dependant on the financial sector rather than oil production. However, with the growing competition in this field from Saudi Arabia and Dubai, Bahrain is expected to slack behind, leading to a decreasing growth rate. The Economist expects oil prices to remain volatile without decreasing below $66/barrel. Regional boom will result in higher domestic demand and money supply growth, which in turn will lead to an increase in consumer price inflation to 5% as compared to 4.1% in 2007. Finally, the Economist forecasts large current account surpluses in 2008-2009 due to high oil prices. The trade surplus is expected to widen to $3.8B in 2008 and then decline to $3B in 2009.
