Dubai’s bold plan to become one of the top four global financial centers

Dubai is one of the most interesting cities in the world.

The most populous city in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) is strategically centered between Asia, Africa and Europe.

Expats love the country. So much that they make up 90% of its population.

They owe it to Dubai’s extremely business-friendly environment — and government policies that promote trade.

The country even shifted its Islamic Friday-Saturday weekend to Saturday-Sunday to match Western countries.

The numbers speak for themselves:

• Property prices grew 20-40% in 2022 — with projected growth of 46% in 2023, per Realiste data.
• Forecasted 6.5% GDP growth for 2022 and 7% for 2023 — well above the US 1.9% expected for 2022.

Thanks to early vaccination, the city became a center for tourism and remote workers. But it’s not all business. Emiratis know how to party, and they’re even striving to become “the happiest place on earth.”

New year, new goals. Yesterday, the Prime Minister tweeted out the country’s latest ambitions:

• Double its economy in 10 years.
• Become one of the top four global financial centers.

Dubai announced a massive $8.7T economic plan to achieve those goals. It’s all part of the country’s plans to diversify away from oil and gas — which make up ~30% of their GDP.

Bet you didn’t know: Global investors can access Dubai’s stock market through the iShares MSCI UAE ETF (NASDAQ:UAE) — which was down 5.4% in 2022. Still, their economy relies heavily on the Energy Sector where prices have significantly declined in recent months.