Sheikh Mohammed speaks out

It's a very rare thing indeed to hear the man speak. And when he does, it's worth a listen. An Embiz24/7 special covers the entire online interview with the press held on Saturday, as well as report on the current crisis:

"I believe that no preventive measures, neither in the UAE nor any other country in the world, would have provided the desired immunity from the ramifications of the global financial meltdown...Our position is far better than other countries, and encouraging economic indicators have just started to emerge."

I personally think this a step in the right direction, considering the recent barrage of articles on the 'dark side' of Dubai.

Oh, as a side note, he also says there's no income taxes anytime soon. Yeay.

Grace period for cancelled visa holders may be extended

According to an Emirates Business report, people made redundant during the current crisis can get more time to stay and look for another job:

"The new policy, which may be announced in the first half of this year, is expected to address the potential cases of job cuts due to the financial crisis. Currently, the UAE labour and immigration laws require expats who have lost their jobs to find work within a month – or leave."

The big gamble

Because of the recent economic developments, we see a lot of questionable practices by banks coming to light. Maybe you came to know, that if you had a bank account in the USA (with an insured bank that is) - the maximum amount you could recover per account, in case that bank busted, is U$ 100000. Check this document.If you deposited more...well, that would be your loss.
In Europe, that amount is even substantially smaller in many countries.
Let's assume for the sake of it, that tomorrow a big bank in the UAE will run into major trouble because of the current credit crunch and maybe, just maybe, because they finance 100's of real estate projects that will most probably default. The bank may get subsidies from the government to save themselves- but what about the money of the account holder?
So obviously, the question is, what's the law on this in the UAE? Anybody knows?